Forces United 2 - Resist The Dark
by TU4QU0I53T4IAN6L3
Summary: From the author of Forces United and Inkcredible. The war is over and the Black Squad headed back home. Belt Colourz accidently released the Dark Gaia from its shell plunging the world into darkness. Joined by his closest two friends and the blue hedgehog again, Belt must seek out a way to stop the dark while also helping a stranger who may look similar to someone...
1. Enter the Light Wolf

***WARNING! IF YOU HADN'T READ FORCES UNITED - DARK WOLF BEGINS, PLEASE READ THAT STORY FIRST BEFORE READING THIS STORY AS THEY STORY WOULD CONTAIN SPOILERS FROM THE LAST STORY! WARNING!***

**AN: What's up my rock 'n' rollers? This is TurquoiseTriangle or call me Cheah. Guess what day it is today?**

**IT IS MY BIRTHDAY!**

**My birthday just happened on this special day (July the 1st in Australia) and I thought I would celebrate it with the release of my new story; Forces United 2 - Resist The Dark.**

**I had been making this story for a while along with upcoming stories and I'm happy to say that I'm ready to release it. I know that I had been keeping you guys hanging, but it's already here. You are already on this story.**

**Also, Forces United - Dark Wolf Begins hits 4070 views along with Inkcredible - A Fresh Start which hits 3220 views and I want to say thank you to all of you rock 'n' rollers for reading my stories. I couldn't express how grateful I am for this.**

**About this story, instead of Clay Colourz, it will take the perspective of HIS brother, Belt Colourz (who looks similar to the well-known Gadget the Wolf). This is because in the last story, he didn't have a huge part so I decided to make him the protagonist for this story only leaving out Clay. As a result, Clay and Belt will share the protagonist part in the next sequel. For some reason, I feel like this story is somewhat a spinoff as it doesn't have a very large plot and doesn't have much, but I decided to just throw it in.**

**This story was inspired by 'SONIC FORCE' made by Extreme Light 9 and contains heavy elements to Sonic Unleashed. The story might be similar to Extreme Light 9's one, but I think it will be OK. I really like Sonic Unleashed (I will admit I like Sonic's Werehog form) which is why I decided to use some elements for the story.**

**Enough talk, sit back and enjoy the ride.**

* * *

**Dedicated to my friend, The Sensational Spiderdom321. Never stop creating.**

**Dedicated to one of my REAL LIFE friends, Ash (won't say the whole name) and those who struggle with accepting others.**

* * *

**Arguments and stress may drive a wedge but only forgiveness and loyalty can fix the friendship. - TurquoiseTriangle**

* * *

**?**

The first thing I know is darkness.

Then a breeze of coldness hit my skin.

I am filled with alertness.

I stand on my feet.

I feel very groggy.

When I look around, my heart skips a heartbeat

My surroundings is a complicated rocky maze.

Though there is no ceiling, light – from nowhere – fills the place.

I look around dazed.

I try to remember why I am here.

But I have no memory;

Every memory of mine must have DISAPPEARED.

I look at my arms.

They are fully black with white stripes

My hands are covered with black gloves with metal spikes

Out loud, I said,

"**Who am I? What am I?**"

"**Where am I? How did I get here?**"

I wince at the sound of my voice.

It sounds demonic and unfriendly.

How come my voice is like that?

There is no one to ask.

I'm all by myself.

"**Why am I here?**"

* * *

**Chapter 1 - Enter the Light Wolf**

**Belt's POV, (During the events of Forces United)**

_Stuck._

_The last few hours, I was stuck in that stupid net. I was whining softly while the flying robot held onto it. I wished for it to take me back home but it paid no attention to me._

_As I looked around my surroundings, I felt scared. My home was far away. The robot was carrying me out to sea and eventually arrived at a grey wasteland._

"_Why is this happening?" I thought as I tried to break free. "What's going on?"_

_I looked in front. The robot was flying straight towards a large grey fortress. It looked very futuristic and like a villain's lair._

_Suddenly, the robot dropped. I closed my eyes._

_The next thing I knew was being thrown and landed onto the ground. The net fell off. Getting up, I was able to find where I was. It was a large room with grey walls. There were red and black cargoes all over the place in a neat row. There were even hologram computers that were floating a few centimetres up._

_I looked at one of the cargoes. It had a familiar small symbol on it._

"_No," I thought. "Can it be…?"_

_As far as I know, I was all alone._

"_**Finally,**_" _said a dark mysterious voice. "__**The Light Wolf is here.**_"

_Almost._

_The voice sent shivers down my spine. I looked up, but I wished I didn't._

_It was a black creature with a metal mask and a red-purple gem on its chest._

"_Who…who are you?" I stammered._

"_**You may call me Infinite,**_" _answered the black creature. "__**For now.**_"

_I slowly got onto my feet. But I could feel myself shivering._

"_So…can you please tell me why I'm here?" I said._

_Infinite didn't say a word. Then he said, "__**I see that you reek of fear. Surprised that you could give an expression.**_"

_Infinite might be a canine, but it wasn't the time to know the fact._

"_Listen," I said. "All I want is to go home so can you please let me go and I'll-"_

_I was cut off when Infinite strike. I landed on the floor. My glasses broke a bit. Infinite laughed._

"_What's wrong with you?" I said angrily. "Why are you…?"_

_He attacked again. This time, he kicked me upwards and threw me to the ground. My glasses broke, but there were more broken pieces from the lens._

_I felt Infinite lifting me up using my hood._

"_**Pathetic,**_" _sneered Infinite. "__**You're the Light Wolf and yet you don't know how to fight.**_"

"_I'm NOT the Light Wolf," I said, blinking tears._

"_**Huh. Even your counterpart is too scared to come and rescue you."**_

"_HEY! You don't insult my b-"_

_Before I could finish, I was thrown to the wall. I hit head-first. More cracks. I tumbled to the ground, bruised and feeling scared._

_I looked up. I could see Infinite about to do the final blow. I started to cry and the only thought in my head was that I'm going to die and I won't get to see my brother again._

_But then, another voice came in._

"_Infinite. Kill later. He's the energy source I need."_

_The black creature sighed. He raised his hand as if he was a Jedi. Strangely, I felt something wrapping around me and I was floating in the air._

_I turned to see a familiar fat human doctor._

"_Eggman…?" I choked out._

_He laughed evilly. "Have been a long time since the last time I saw you."_

_I stared at Eggman. When did I ever see him for real? And then it hit me._

"_**YOU!**_" _I growled. "You were the one who sent that robot and attacked my home 11 years ago!"_

_Eggman shrugged. "Smarter than you look."_

"_What do you want?!"_

"_Your rings."_

_Before I could ask why, I felt myself floating forward. It wasn't me. It was Infinite using his force power. I struggled to break free as I headed to an unknown room._

_Then, I was taken to some gigantic room with machines. In the middle, there was a glass cylinder with wires hanging from the top._

_Infinite pushed me inside the cylinder and LOCKED THE DOOR. Just then, the wires came to life; they moved around like snakes being carried on the tail before attaching themselves to my rings._

"_Hey!" I yelled trying to smash the door. "What is going on?!"_

_Eggman showed no reply and only pressed on a nearby machine._

_Suddenly, I felt a stinging electric pain through my body. I screamed. I looked at my rings which the wires seemed to take the energy from there._

_The pain stopped. I breathed hard. Tears came down my eyes._

"_Please…stop…" I pleaded._

"_Don't worry," mocked Eggman. "You'll get used to it."_

_He pressed the machine again and before I knew it, the electric shock came back._

_I screamed._

"AAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"

I stopped. I blinked a few times. I tried to see clearly, but my vision was blurry. I put on my glasses. Much better.

I looked around. I was just in my room, lying on my bed.

"Another dream…" I said rubbing my eyes. I looked at my digital clock.

_7:30 am_

_Date: 7/12_

I did a smile of relief. It had been a few months since the Six-Months War (people started to call it the 'Infinite War'). I had been used as a battery life, helped the enemies. Though it was all over, I still felt the pain I suffered and had the same nightmare all over again.

Sorry if I hadn't introduced myself. My name - Belt Colourz. I have been known to be the Light Wolf. That was because of the rings I wore that never came off. I found them a long time ago and they held great light power. I was happy about it, though I was quite upset that they accidentally killed my parents a long time ago.

I threw my blankets and looked out from my window. My home – Forest Tournament Town set in the country Australia – looked clean with the beautiful sun rising. So quiet, so peaceful, so…

SPLAT!

Not so quiet. Angry yelling was heard.

"Was that Clay?" I thought.

I went out of my room and went to the bathroom. Under the door was a strange purple paint spilling out.

I opened it to find my younger brother inside; a 14-year-old turquoise wolf with glowing gold eyes. He was wearing a black shirt, dark grey gloves with large yellow rings, black shorts and dark grey/purple shoes. In his hand was a tube of purple dye. That might explain the purple dye on the white tips of his hair, tail and chest fur. The bathroom was a mess. The floor was partly covered with purple dye including the mirror.

I gave Clay a look.

"I thought I told you that you could dye your hair tomorrow," I said.

"Sorry," he said. "I can't help it. I'll clean it up."

"That's OK. I'll deal with it. You get change now."

Clay nodded and exited the bathroom.

I smiled. Clay, the only family I have. He was known as the Dark Wolf as he had rings that held dark powers. During the Infinite War, he became a soldier of the Resistance. At first, he was scared and worried that he would fail, but he became a hero and was able to deal with his fears. Clay started to have friends, but still with poor social skills.

Picking up a towel, I mopped the purple dye from the floor and the mirror. When I finished, I washed my face. During that time, I looked up to see my reflection; a 17-year-old anthropomorphic red-orange wolf wearing glasses with an olive-green dome-shaped headset connected to it, a white shirt, ice blue gloves with mint green rings, black shorts and ice blue/purple shoes. How could you tell I'm a wolf? The curved ears, golden eyes, tufts of fur that stick from the side of the head with white tips, the noticeable fangs and the short bushy tail with a white tip.

I scowled a bit at my appearance. I didn't like myself that much. I continued to clean up.

Later, I got dressed for school, the LAST DAY of school for the year.

I decided to wear something new. I settled with a stunning new sporting look though still wearing my rings and glasses. I wore a mint green collared shirt, an ice blue zipped-up vest, my favorite utility belt, military green gloves (with medium-sized cuffs, a black inverted chevron on the front and tan padded patches on the back), black shorts and green military boots (with black tips and white padded patches on the back with a black inverted chevron on the front of each shoe).

I went up to Clay's room and knocked on his door.

"Are you done yet?" I asked.

"Hold on!" he said.

Clay opened his door. Stunningly, he was wearing his favourite blue headphones, a black vest with yellow swirls and black pants with purple lightning bolts. He still wore his gloves and shoes. His hair was long enough to be tied up in a small ponytail.

"You look nice," I said.

"So do you," said Clay.

I smiled. I was hoping for a good day.

* * *

**Tournament School, 12:30 pm**

I couldn't believe that it was almost the end of school. After a long-term, it was about time. That year was the first time I did assignments and exams at school instead of being home-schooled and teaching my brother many subjects. Clay didn't seem to like the school. Not because of the work, but because of the other students who marvelled his talent of being a great hero much to his embarrassment.

"Clay wouldn't worry about that soon," I thought as I headed to the cafeteria. "Or in 3 hours."

I looked around the cafeteria. It was filled with a lot of people. I saw a nearby table where my friends were; a bubblegum-pink female cat with her hair tied up in a ponytail, dark navy blue eyes and wore a black ninja sleeveless robe with magenta accents, black gloves, dark purple shorts and purple and black metal sneakers with spiked shoe soles. On the side was a turquoise male bird with two long hair feathers sticking from the back of his head, hazel brown eyes and wore black goggles, black fingerless leather gloves, a dark purple shirt with teal arrows, a black utility belt with smoke bombs, black ripped jeans and black sneakers.

It was Beth (or preferred to be called Bubblegum) and Mecha.

Clay first met them when in the Resistance and despite their nasty behaviour, they became friends.

Bubblegum and Mecha didn't get along as a result of their rivalry. But after the Infinite War, these two switched from yelling at each other to not mind each other. To put it simple; they became fire-forged friends.

Bubblegum started to be openly sympathetic and later became the Chief of Police while Mecha wasn't much of a bully anymore though he could make playful jokes.

I went up to them and sat at their table.

"Hey guys," I said.

Mecha looked up from his computer. "Hi."

"What are you doing?" I asked the bird.

Mecha's reply was pointing at a yellow female wolf who was going out of the cafeteria.

I knew what was coming. "You're not doing it again, aren't you?"

"Lighten up," said Mecha with Bubblegum chuckling. "This time, Clay won't know."

Before I could further insisted, Mecha hacked into one of the school security cameras and hooked up with his computer. The screen showed a live video on top of the cafeteria entrance.

The door opened. Cassie - the yellow wolf with amber eyes and wore a sky blue sleeveless jacket sky blue gloves with printed purple pens, black shorts and blue shoes – bumped into Clay. So that you know, they were a bit of a couple, but Clay wished that didn't happen since he wasn't all rosy about love. It kept rolling with the two trying to explain to each other their feelings. Another thing that kept rolling was our friends were spying on Clay and Cassie much to their embarrassment.

"Oh um…hey Cassie," said Clay.

"Hi Clay," said Cassie nervously.

"So how are you?"

"Well, it's been a while since I stayed at Xander's house. Though he welcomed me, I still feel lonely without my parents…"

"It's OK. I know."

Cassie opened her arms and hugged Clay. The turquoise wolf did the same.

As I watched, Bubblegum and Mecha had a look of satisfaction.

"What a happy couple," said Bubblegum.

Immediately, Cassie KISSED Clay on the lips. Clap quickly stopped her.

"Hey!" he said. "Why are you kissing me?"

He then looked around to see if anyone was watching. There was no one, so he relaxed.

"OK."

They embraced, but the second they did that, Clay saw the camera above the door. He gave it a nasty glare.

"Almost," I said.

"He saw the camera," said Mecha worriedly pulling up his finger-less gloves.

Finally, Clay and Cassie ended their conversation.

"So, I guess I'll see you later," said Clay a bit shaky.

"See you later too," smiled Cassie walking past him.

Clay grinned but glared back at the camera before stomping into the cafeteria.

"Quick!" said Bubblegum. "Turn it off."

Mecha shut down his computer at the moment Clay came in. But it was pretty obvious who was watching him before.

"**Bite me,**" Clay growled as he came up to our table. "Do you have to?"

Mecha tried to stifle a giggle. Bubblegum rolled her eyes in a playful manner.

Clay looked at me.

"You could have stopped them," he said.

"I tried to," I said.

"I'm getting sick of you guys spying on me,"

The second he said that somebody behind him PULLED down his pants.

"Especially that," mumbled Mecha under his breath.

Clay looked around to see Emerald; a smiling rabbit. He was about to slap her when I quickly said, "Clay. Don't."

He muttered under his breath and pulled his pants up. I took a good look at her; she's an ice-blue female rabbit with emerald green eyes and wore a yellow jacket with aquamarine stripes, a blue top with purple polka dots, white gloves with pink-gold bracelets, purple skirt, white ripped jeans and white shoes with pink hearts. She was just standing there smiling nuisance. I got to say; Emerald could be a nuisance at times.

"Really Emerald?" said Bubblegum having the same look as Clay.

"But it's funny," Emerald said as she sat down.

Following behind her was Sebastian – a lime-green male wolf with yellow and red eyes and wore a silver and black cap, a black skull bandanna, a red jacket, a silver and yellow camouflage vest, white gloves, a utility belt with a strap, black pants with yellow stripes and silver boots with red linings – who sat down next to Mecha.

"Hey guys," said Sebastian. "It's the last day of school. Isn't it?"

"Yeah," said Bubblegum. "This year has gone and the summer holidays are going to start tomorrow."

"You know what's going to happen tomorrow?" said Mecha pulling up his finger-less gloves again. "The Tournament Semi-Finals."

So that you know, the Tournament was a series of events in our town. I was in Mecha and Sebastian's team, the Death Shockers, and Clay was with Bubblegum and Emerald, the Blazers. The Semi-Finals event was tennis but NOT just ORIGINAL tennis. The rackets were HIGH-TECH.

But the moment Mecha mentioned the semi-finals, Clay looked worried. He was not looking forward to it because he was not a good tennis player.

"Don't worry about it," I said to Clay.

"Also, isn't Clay going to perform after the semi-finals?" said Bubblegum.

"That's true," Clay said.

Another thing that was going to happen was that after the semi-finals, Clay was going to accompany an artist who was going to perform. Clay was hired by the artist to help her as her DJ. The reason why was because the artist's DJ passed away and she liked Clay's songwriting and vocals.

"It's going to be a big day tomorrow," said Emerald.

While the guys chatted, I noticed that Clay looked worried.

"Anything wrong?" I asked him.

"Kind of," he said. "I don't feel confident about tomorrow."

"Don't worry. Do your best but most importantly; have fun."

Clay smiled. I smiled.

"Hopefully, nothing will go wrong," I thought.

What I didn't know that something was going to happen soon.

* * *

**5 pm**

I walked across the busy streets seeing the sun setting in the horizon. In my hand was my Burst Wispon; I came back from Sebastian's training as I did that often. I was a member of the Black Squad and I made sure that I trained myself for any mission we might do...OK. I had to admit that we didn't do any missions YET, but who knows? Bubblegum and Mecha were planning for future features for our team, but that was yet to be confirmed. I walked towards my home and was about to go in until I saw Bubblegum walking along the streets.

She was walking in her police black vest (along with wearing a purple spy tech earpiece) but…

"That's strange," I thought. "Why is she holding a torch?"

I decided to follow her.

"Hey," I said catching up with her. "What are you doing?"

"You will see if you want to come along," she replied.

I chose to follow her. For some reason, she went to the town gates, looked around to see if anyone was watching before opening and went in. I followed her.

We strolled along the forest path away from the town. At one point, we went past the graveyard. Bubblegum stopped at one of the tombstones; her deceased mother's grave. The pink cat touched the grave sadly before walking away.

I felt sorry for her. She lost her father who fell in a deep ravine when trying to rescue her and Mecha during a fight. Her mother passed away due to an illness and Bubblegum had to stay at Emerald's house. That was four years ago and she still couldn't cope with it. Like I said already, I lost my parents at a very young age.

"Sorry," I said under my breath.

We continued to walk through the forest and I was getting a bit impatient.

"OK," I said. "What is this all about?"

"We're here," Bubblegum said pushing through some bushes.

I looked up. There was a large clearing the size of a soccer oval. There were many small formations but in the middle was a narrow but long cave. I recognised it.

"The Forbidden Cave?" I said.

"That's where I'm going," Bubblegum said.

"But nobody goes in there AND comes out alive!"

"Almost. Emerald went in there once."

"And how did she escape?"

"She didn't last long in there. She had to get out because her pants were on fire."

"Yeah, but why would you want to go in that cave?"

"I'm just exploring it."

"Isn't that illegal?"

Bubblegum just shrugged. "Relax. Only…government leaders – including police chiefs – can do this type of thing. And no one is going to know because it's a private case."

"But it's dangerous. No one – even the most desperate heroes – would go in some reckless place. That's CRAZY!"

"No. CRAZY was seeing Emerald came out of the cave in her underwear. We've been through worse in the war, so it shouldn't be that bad. I just want to see what is in there. There's probably something in there."

"I'm just saying that it's not a good idea."

"C'mon. I'll be careful. Plus, you're not me. I don't worry that much like you."

"I guess I'll come with you. I don't think you can go in there yourself."

But Bubblegum was already heading towards the cave. I sighed and followed her.

* * *

"Good thing I brought along my torch. That way, I can see better," said Bubblegum.

In contrast to her source of light, I didn't need her torch. With my night vision, I looked around the cave walls. Some crystals were growing out from the walls. It was completely peaceful and quiet.

PLIP!

Almost. My sensitive ears were sharp and I could hear everything that was going on in this cave. I started to get scared.

We were walking through this tunnel for a long time, had to walk down some steep platforms. Finally, we came to a dead end. But there was a huge hole in the ground. Leaning over, we saw something down there.

"What do you think is down there?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," said Bubblegum. "But it looks like there's light down there. Is it safe?"

"I'm not sure," I said, my ears twitching. "There's not a sound from a person, but sounds like something burning in there."

"We'll have to find out."

Bubblegum aimed her grapple gun at the ceiling. The hook attached itself to it. Then, she dropped down – using her grapple gun as a rock climbing rope – and lowered herself down the hole.

"Grab on," she said.

I jumped and grabbed onto her tail. The grapple gun lowered us and we slowly went down the tunnel.

I looked around. It was just all dirt and earth. But it seemed like we were going through the MANTLE layer because the temperature was rising. I started to sweat.

"Phew," said Bubblegum. "It's hot in here. I'm sweating already."

"Because I'm below you, let me say 'I know'," I said annoyed.

Finally, we reached the end of the deep hole. I landed on the ground and saw this; a large cavern filled with long rock formations resembling bridges and a long ocean of boiling liquid in red, orange and black colors.

"What is this?" said Bubblegum.

"I guess we're underground," I said.

"That's a lot of lava here."

"I think the correct term is 'magma'."

"Oh. Right. No wonder why Emerald's pants caught on fire the last time she got here."

"But how did she get out?" I said to myself.

We started to look around the place. As we walked along, I looked down at the magma. It was boiling with steam coming out like hot water. At one point, a burst of the magma shot out of the fiery lake. I quickly caught up with Bubblegum at the last second before it fell on me.

For a while, there was almost nothing but earth and magma all around us, but finally, we came to a large clearing. But it wasn't empty; there was a forest of gigantic Greek-like pillars standing in two rows. Deep roots of trees grew out of the walls. In the middle, there was a smaller pillar with an old scroll on it and concrete plates around it, covering up most of the floor.

"What is that?" said Bubblegum.

"I'm not sure," I said. "Looks like it's something for a quest…or a prophecy."

"Could it be a trap?"

"There's only one way to find out."

"Fine. You go first."

I looked at Bubblegum.

"Me?!" I said. "Why me?"

"You're the one who has a better sense of smell and hearing," she said matter-of-factly. "Thus you are aware of any traps."

I understood. "OK."

I crept slowly to the small pillar, closer as I dared. Once I reached the concrete carpet, I sniffed around for any traps.

"Huh," I thought. "Nothing."

I gingerly walked over the plates and went nearer to the scroll. I looked around it, making sure there was nothing funny about it. But it was just a boring-looking old-fashioned scroll. I shrugged and took it.

I turned around to see Bubblegum sighing in relief.

"Don't worry!" I said starting walking. "There are no traps in…"

PLONK!

I froze. I looked down. The plate I walked on was PRESSED. It was TRIGGERED.

"…here."

The silence was interrupted by a shake.

It felt like an earthquake.

A VIOLENT UNEARTHLY EARTHQUAKE.

The tall pillars started shaking with bits of them falling. I dumbly looked around blankly.

"You idiot!" yelled Bubblegum.

"**HOW was I supposed to know that the plate was a TRAP?!**" I growled.

But the argument we were having was the least of our problems. I turned around. Some dark energy was coming out from the small pillar. It started to rise into the air and formed into a gigantic black cloud of darkness with dark purple streaks. The sounds were demonic and scary.

"What is that?" I said looking up shaking.

"I don't know," said Bubblegum. "But I bet it is here to say a friendly hello before ripping our faces off."

And she was right. The cloud of darkness started to come closer to me. Trembling, I quickly whipped out my Wispon and pointed at the big shadow. The fire might be able to scare it off. I pressed the trigger.

FHOOSH!

A burst of fire sprayed onto the cloud of darkness. But it had little effect on it.

"So what do you know? My Wispon was useless on that," I said sarcastically before yelling. "NOW RUN!"

At the sound of my voice, the cloud of darkness attacked! I quickly ran and grabbed Bubblegum's hand. As we ran, I looked behind. The cloud of darkness was growing bigger at every passing second. The whole cavern was filled with darkness as if the light was gone.

"We need to get out of here and fill in the cave!" said Bubblegum.

But due to the size of the dark cloud, it seemed that plugging the cave was out of the question. We quickly came to the hole in the ceiling; the same way we got into the cavern.

I quickly held Bubblegum's hand and she used her grapple gun, shooting us out of the cavern and back onto the surface; back in the cave. We landed safely on our feet.

"Belt," said Bubblegum. "You may let go now."

"Oh sorry," I said quickly letting go.

"No problem."

"Except for that problem," I said, pointing at the hole. The darkness was rising! "It's coming!"

Bubblegum started to panic.

"Where's the way out?!" she screamed.

She stood up and tried to find the exit only to bump into a wall. She must have lost her torch so she couldn't see properly. I grabbed her hand.

"Hold onto me!" I said.

We both ran while the cloud of darkness chased after us. The horrible screeches were getting louder. The shadows were getting closer. At last, I saw the exit with light shining into the cave.

"We're not going to make it," said Bubblegum hopelessly.

"We're GOING to make it," I said.

At this, we both leaped out of the exit and landed outside the cave. But it was not over. The cloud of darkness was coming. Fast.

Thinking quickly, I raised my hand and formed a mint-green energy shield around us. The shadows hit the shield and flew up in the sky. I still held onto that shield until all the clouds of darkness flew up into the sky and disappeared. And then silence.

"That was close," said Bubblegum.

There was a crumbling sound. I looked behind. The cave was crumbling; cracks on the walls. Within minutes, the Forbidden Cave crumbled and crashed onto the ground. The cave was left with a huge pile of rock rubble.

"TOO close," I said looking at the damage.

"You still have the scroll?" asked Bubblegum.

"Yep," I said holding it up. "It's safe and sound."

"Let's see what's in there."

I opened the scroll. But the second I did, I wondered where it came from.

There were words, but these weren't in ENGLISH! They were mysterious symbols and possibly UNIMAGINABLE. They didn't even look like any other languages on Earth!

"What…the heck…is that?" said Bubblegum.

"I'm not sure," I said. "I can't understand what it said!"

"Same."

"Can you translate that?"

"I could try."

Bubblegum pressed on her spy ear tech, but the screen that covered her eyes said _INSUFFICIENT DATA._

"Darn. It looked like the internet didn't know what language this was."

"Then could you guess?" I said.

"Well, it might be something related to that black magic; whether it is useful or dangerous."

I shrugged. "I say we let the mayor knows. Maybe the government leaders may figure this out."

The second Bubblegum heard the word 'mayor', she looked worried.

"Anything wrong?" I said.

"Oh…um…nothing," she said. "I think we should try to find out by ourselves. Maybe we can find out the message itself."

"But we can't understand this reading so we need help."

"I disagree. They wouldn't know about that language…the same like us.."

She hesitated. I realized she was hiding something. I smelled a lot of adrenaline, so there was something going on with her.

"Bubblegum," I said in a stern voice. "What's going on?"

Bubblegum sighed before blurted out, "I lied."

"What?!"

"I lied about government officials are allowed to go into the Forbidden Cave. Nobody IS allowed to go in there without proper permission."

"**WHAT?!**"

"Sorry about that…"

I was shaking in anger. "**Not as sorry as I am. We're going to tell the mayor about this and face the consequences.**"

"Please don't. You know what the price for that is!" said Bubblegum.

"**I don't care. You lied at my face and I hate it.**"

"Can't we just keep this a secret?"

"**You're just selfish.**"

"I'm NOT selfish! I'm just trying to do what's best for you!"

"**Since WHEN?! You risked YOURS and MY life to go into that stupid cave!**"

"I didn't force you to come with me! And you were the one who grabbed that scroll!"

Bubblegum began to be frustrated. She started to stutter and placed her hand on her head. She muttered something before shaking her head.

"You know what? GO AHEAD! Tell the mayor about this and pay a lot of money for THAT! Not like I care that much."

Bubblegum turned her back and crossed her hands. I glared at her. It was SINFUL for her to lie, but I could see that she has a point. Telling the mayor would be a bad idea and paying thousands of dollars would be what no one wanted do.

Against my argument, I sighed reluctantly. "Fine then. Cross my heart; we'll keep this secret until we find more evidence."

"Spoken like a true Resistance soldier," said Bubblegum turning around. "Keep that scroll safe and don't tell ANYONE about this, including our friends and your brother."

The words 'spoken like a true Resistance soldier' got locked into my head. First of all, I'm NOT a true Resistance soldier yet. Sure I trained for months, but I felt new to the Black Squad. And second, lying was not my strength. I did lie to Clay about the secret of our deceased parents, but I gave up on that. I hate to lie and yet, here I was lying again.

I winced at the thought of that. Of all my talents, lying was not one of them.

* * *

**AN: Well yeah, Belt. Not everyone is a good liar. **

**As you can see, it has been a few months after the events of Dark Wolf Begins. Still, that doesn't mean that trouble is over. We will see what is next in the next chapter.**

**This story will be updated every Monday (Australian time) so keep your eyes out for the next chapter. It will be a hell of a ride for this summer holidays (well...it's winter back here in Australia...but still.)**

**That's all for today. ****If you like this story: follow or favorite this story for updates of the story. Make sure to review this chapter on what you thought of this story. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).**

***sigh* OK. This is a new thing I'm going to do. For each chapter, I will ask a question to all of you readers and I want you to put your answers down in the reviews IF you can answer. This is only just for fun and need to hear of some people's opinions. **

**The question for this chapter: What would you expect more from this story? Do you think that Belt would be a good hero? Please put your answers in the reviews.**

**Until next time, stay tune and I will see you all in the next chapter!**


	2. Not Everything Fun and Games

**AN: Hey guys! Here's another chapter! I want to thank Zoggerific and The Sensational SpiderDom321 for leaving a review on the last chapter. There hasn't been any follows or favorites to this story yet...but let's just move on. 54 views...rough start. Thanks for enjoying the first chapter and here is Chapter 2. Hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

**Chapter 2 - Not Everything Fun and Games**

**8/12 (at 6 pm)**

"WE ARE FREAKING LATE!"

Clay and I were running down the streets as we overslept and was late for the train. We ate dinner but lose track of time. We had the tournament semi-finals on that day and our captains told us to come early for team meeting. If we were not there in time, we would be in trouble.

At last, we arrived at the stadium. Clay ran to one of the cafes where his team met up, only to become face to face with his angry captain. I had to face my own problems. Mecha was my team captain and he wouldn't be happy to see me late.

I found my team where we always met, near where the event was going to happen. It was a tennis ground with buildings surrounding the clearing where people could watch.

I bumped into two of my teammates; Ryan and Ian Iron. They were both brothers and birds with the same red-orange eyes, the same beak color, yellow scarf and the ruffled hair on the back of their head except that Ryan with light grey feathers and Ian with sky blue feathers. Ryan wore silver sunglasses, black finger-less leather gloves, a black leather jacket and silver hi-tops with black accents. Ian wore a sky blue cap, a sky blue jean jacket, sky blue gloves and sky blue converse shoes.

"Where were you?" said Ryan in a French accent. "You're supposed to come here at 5:30 and you wasted your time lying around in the dirt!"

"Sorry," I said. "I was eating dinner and lost track of time."

Ian rolled his eyes. "Dogs like you ALWAYS slobber their food instead of remembering the important stuff."

I ignored him. Those stupid birds could be rude jerks at times.

"Care to tell me where Mecha is?" I asked.

Ryan and Ian both pointed behind them. I saw the remaining Death Shockers. Sebastian was there along with Mecha, but he was busy. Too busy arguing with his sister.

"C'mon, Mecha. Let me play the last game!" complained Nicki, a cyan female bird with hazel brown eyes and wore pilot goggles, black and yellow gloves, a multi-colored shirt, a yellow skirt and yellow boots.

"Listen, Nicki," said Mecha strictly. "In the last game, Tom and Clay are up against us. Tom – the Blazers captain – is too strong and you can't win against him!"

"You don't know that for sure. I think I can do it!"

"I'm not sure about that. You're not that good at tennis, so I'm putting you with Sebastian in the second match."

Nicki was silent for a while before smiling, grabbing Mecha's beak and shaking it playfully. "Fine then, good brother. Go ahead, but don't let me say 'I told you so'."

Mecha slapped her hand before turning his gaze at me.

"There you are," he said pulling up his finger-less gloves – yet again. "I was wondering where you were. I told you not to be late."

"Sorry," I said. I was grateful that Mecha didn't snap.

"Anyway, I put everyone in different matches. You and I are going to do the last match between Tom and Clay."

"And speaking of them, where are they?" said Sebastian. "They normally arrive here 10 minutes before the game."

"Clay came in late as well," I pointed out.

"Do you think they'll arrive soon?"

Mecha smiled. "Heh. Just relax and enjoy the fireworks."

Exactly 9 minutes later, the Blazers came. But what we saw was Tom - a black male cat wearing purple eyes contacts, purple goggles, a yellow hoodie with purple stripes, white gloves with purple flames printed on them and yellow sneakers - chasing his teammates into the tennis ground with a WHIPPING LASH.

"MOVE IT! MOVE IT!" he yelled at the screaming teammates. "WHY DID I LET YOU HAVE DESSERT?!"

And coming behind them was Clay and Bubblegum with the same worried look.

"This is going to be a long day," muttered Bubblegum as she watched Emerald laughing nervously while trying not to be whipped.

Finally, Tom calmed down. That WAS until Mecha called him.

"Hey tomcat!" he mocked. "What took you so long?"

Normally, Mecha would like to tease other teams, but ever since it seemed that he was only making fun of Tom and not the other Blazers. That was fine by me, but for Tom…not that much.

"Mecha," said Tom in a menacing voice.

"You think you're going to win," continued Mecha. "But by the way, your BOSSY NATURE to your teammates isn't going to help you."

I inhaled sharply. You wouldn't want to say that in front of Tom's face. Even if THAT was true.

Clay and Bubblegum both nodded their heads, agreeing to what Mecha said. Tom's face darkened.

"Right," he said growling. "That's it. I'll crush you and each of you smug schmucks 'till you are nothing but dust."

That was enough to get on my teammates' nerves, but I could see that Mecha stayed cool.

"We'll see about it," he said daringly.

"_ALL COMPETITORS FOR THE FIRST MATCH GET READY,_" said a voice from the intercom. "_REPEAT. ALL COMPETITORS FOR THE FIRST MATCH GET READY._"

I looked around. The small grandstands were already packed with people. The games began.

I held onto my tennis racket tightly. After almost 2 hours, it was already the last game. Before I get onto the tennis court, I looked at the leader-board.

_Blazers: 1_

_Death Shockers: 1_

There was one game left. Whoever got the last point, would win the whole game and would move forward into the finals.

"Good luck, Belt," said Sebastian as I went onto the court with Mecha.

On the other side of the net, I saw Tom and Clay; holding a white racket and a black racket respectively. Looking at the competitors' grandstand, I saw the Blazers cheering for them. But the thing that was odd was that Emerald was holding a weird-shaped sign with the words 'GO BLAZERS' printed on it.

"Good luck Clay and Tom!" cheered Emerald.

"Really?" said Bubblegum staring at the waving sign. Emerald had been using it after her turn in the first game.

The whistle blew and everyone went silent. I threw the ball in the air and hit it.

THWACK!

The ball went flying straight into the direction at Clay. He quickly raised his racket causing the ball to bounce off and flew to Mecha. Without breaking a sweat, he smashed it so HARD that the ball went flying to the competitors' grandstand.

ZOOM!

The teams dodged the flying ball and the ball flew into a cafe.

"OW!" said a voice inside that cafe. "My meatloaf!"

"OI!" yelled Bubblegum. "Watch where you are hitting!"

"Sorry…" said Mecha sheepishly pulling up his finger-less gloves.

"15-Love," said the umpire.

I served again and almost hit Clay in the face. But he quickly shielded himself with the racket flying at Mecha again. This time, the turquoise bird did an impressive roundhouse while hitting the ball. Tom tried to hit but ended up falling on his left side with the ball missing him.

"30-Love," said the umpire.

The audience clapped impressed by Mecha's special move.

"Next time, bring a ladder!" laughed Mecha.

"SHUT UP!" bellowed Tom.

"Hey Clay! Hey Tom!" called Emerald, still waving the sign. "GOOD LUCK! GOOD LUCK! GOOD LUCK! GOOD LU-"

"**YOU SHUT UP AS WELL!**" yelled Clay and Tom at the same time.

But at this, Mecha served and 'accidentally' whacked the ball…and flew straight towards Tom's head.

DONK!

Tom fell face-first on the grassy ground. Mecha looked pretty bemused.

"Sorry…" he said, this time looking nervous for hitting the ball at the winner of 'most likely to mop the floor with someone else's face' award.

"Out!" said the umpire.

As a result, the opposing team served. Clay – feeling nervous – served. At first, he hesitated when he threw the ball up, but he quickly hit the ball. The ball zoomed past my head as I tried to hit it.

"30-15," said the umpire.

"Nice one," I mouthed at Clay.

Clay smiled. But it wasn't time to celebrate the moment. The game rolled on. After a few sets, the scores came to this; 40-40.

"Advantage point," said the umpire.

"Wait, what?" said Clay.

"That means if you get this point, you win," said Sebastian.

I took a deep breath and did my serve.

* * *

**Third Person's POV**

Before Emerald opened her mouth, Bubblegum quickly slapped the sign out of her hands.

"Shh!" said Bubblegum. "Don't spoil it! We can't miss a thing."

But as far as they could tell, none of the teams missed hitting the ball. The ball was hit and thrown in the air like a ragged doll.

Emerald was about to pick up her sign when something fell out of her jacket pocket. It was a BIG PAIR OF SCISSORS. The one she used when she tried to cut off Mecha's hair to 'convince' him to join the Resistance. She had been wishing for that to happen, but Mecha steered himself away from sharp object for as long as possible. Emerald looked up. Both teams were concentrating. She looked at Mecha's two long feathers sticking from his head. She felt twitchy. She couldn't help it. She HAD to do it. Without alerting Bubblegum, Emerald gingerly tiptoed away from the grandstand and onto the tennis court.

With the scissors in HER HAND.

* * *

**Belt's POV**

As I hit the ball, I noticed Emerald getting onto the court.

"What is she doing?" I thought.

I saw that she was smiling. It didn't take me long to wonder if she might pull down Clay's pants again. But she was going to my team. Almost no one was looking at her except for Bubblegum who tried to signal Emerald to come back.

As she came closer, I mouthed, "What are you doing?"

Emerald put her finger on her mouth tried to be quiet. Then she went behind Mecha who was busy hitting the flying ball. She then whipped out a pair of scissors.

A BIG SHARP PAIR OF SCISSORS.

And in a flash…

SNIP! SNIP!

She cut off Mecha's hair and tail.

Silence filled the atmosphere except for the sound of the ball getting hit. Then…

Laughter. Almost everyone in the grandstands was laughing. The only people who weren't laughing was me, a mouth-opened Bubblegum, both teams –Blazers looked shocked and the Death Shockers tried not to laugh out loud – and, Clay and Tom having the same shock expression.

Even Mecha was confused though he was the one with the attention on.

"What?" he said.

At this, the ball came flying towards Mecha, but he quickly hit it. Then, he stroked his hair - or at least where he THOUGHT his hair was. The second he touched his BALD head, he FROZE. Eyes widened, he looked behind to see his tail - or at least the rest of it; the tail feathers measured 1 CENTIMETER. Looking up, he saw Emerald – with derpy eyes – five meters away from him…with the chopped-off feathers in her hands.

"**WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!**"

As a result, the Death Shockers laughed like crazy at their humiliated captain.

"OI!" snapped Mecha. "THIS IS NO LAUGHING MATTER!"

He then looked at Emerald who started laughing and ran away.

"HEY, YOU!" yelled Mecha chasing after her. "YOU COME BACK HERE YOU RABID, RANCID, RIDICULOUS RABBIT!"

Though focusing on the ball, I watched as Emerald ran back onto the grandstands and across the nearby outside-seating cafes with Mecha behind her waving his racquet as if it was a samurai sword. Spectators watched the chase in shock.

"I WILL PLUCK YOU INTO AN OVEN WITH POTATOES AND CARROTS, AND SET IT TO 800 DEGREES CELSIUS!" threatened Mecha.

At one point, Emerald accidentally knocked over a table with a mini jug of gravy on it. The jug fell, spilling gravy all over the floor. This caused Mecha to slip on the chicken-flavored puddle and landed on his back. He attempted to get up, but slipped and fell on his face.

Meanwhile, I tried to continue with the game, but it was hard to do it against two people.

"Sub!" I called. "SUB!"

"Too late," said Tom.

I saw Tom's racket CATCHING ELECTRICAL BOLTS. That's a SPECIAL POWER CHARGE. He jumped in the air and smacked the ball.

KAZAP!

The ball, electrified, came flying towards me. I tried to hit it but…

THWACK!

The ball ended up on the other side. I looked at my racket. The strings had broken. The ball went THROUGH it.

"GAME!" announced the umpire. "Blazers wins!"

Tom looked surprised. "We…we won?"

Clay nodded. The rest of the Blazers cheered. Tom returned to them and - to his surprise - got into a big group hug from his teammates. For so long, they were pushed around by the Death Shockers and they finally won a match against them. They deserved to go to the finals. Even though this was my first-ever tournament AND the first to lose, I just smiled, proud of Clay.

Clay looked at me. I gave a 'thumbs up' to him.

Looking behind, I saw the rest of the Death Shockers came up behind me while Ryan and Ian looked at Tom's racket which he threw it in the air in victory.

"Huh," said Sebastian. "We lost. Did we?"

I saw on my left Mecha grumpily trudging towards us, covered in sticky orange-brown salty gravy.

"I told you so, brother," said Nicki. "Next time, I should-"

"'I should play in the last game'," mocked Mecha before yelling, "I KNOW!"

WHACK!

That flying racket that Tom threw hit Mecha on the head.

"The Blazers won this semi-finals event," said the judge. "They will be up against the Bushwalkers for the grand finals on Wednesday in 4 days."

As we all left the stadium, Tom decided to rub some salt into Mecha's face.

"So how does losing feel like?" he said making an L-shape on his head. "LOSER."

Mecha just shrugged and pulled up his finger-less gloves. "Whatever. You deserve it."

Tom looked surprised, never seen Mecha not upset for being mocked when losing.

"Wait a minute," Tom said. "Aren't you supposed to be angry? Normally, you hate losing."

"That was before," Mecha said. "I changed. Not everything is about winning trophies and medals. There's always room for those who doesn't win. I'm…I'm sorry for treating you like trash. Congratulations, Blazers."

Mecha shook his hand with the flabbergasted Tom.

"And oh," said Mecha frowning. "And I would like to give Emerald a NICE little present."

We all looked at Emerald. She was smiling, pretty oblivious. Mecha stomped and went face to face with the oblivious rabbit.

"What?" Emerald said.

* * *

**Few hours later**

"That's a huge crowd out there," said Clay looking from the curtains.

"Uh-huh," I said. "Many people are looking forward to your performance."

Clay and I were backstage. Night had fallen and Clay's performance was about to start.

"Places everyone!" said a nearby female voice. "Places. Places! PLACES!"

Out from the hanging clothes line, came out the artist, Bay Be; a brown dog with long ears from each side, stylized as a bob hairstyle and a beauty mole on her right cheek. The left ear was painted in black while the right ear was painted in white. She wore a black and white cap with her name on the front in turquoise and yellow colors, a white shirt, a black jacket with light blue stripes, black pants and black and white sneakers.

Bay wasn't an 'actual' artist. She just sang songs that had already been known.

"DJ Rookie!" she said (she is bad at remembering names). "I need you to be at the turntable set already. The show is about to start!"

Clay took a deep breath.

"Wish me luck," he said nervously.

"Don't worry about it," I said putting my hand on his shoulder. "Do your best. Most importantly: have fun."

Clay smiled before going to his turntable set. It had an electronic platform with two revolving discs on it. But unlike a normal turntable set, it also had a Launchpad with different sounds and a loop pedal keyboard. There was even a mic as he would be doing the backing vocals.

As I watched Clay nervously went to his position, I went out from backstage to join the crowd. I found Sebastian and Emerald near one of the cafes, but Emerald didn't look too good; there was a HUGE RED LUMP on her head showing where Mecha hit her. She looked like as if she just came out of a bar.

I stared at the lump before staring at Emerald who was dizzy but smiling.

"If you didn't chopped off Mecha's feathers, you wouldn't be karate-chopped," I said.

"True," she said.

I noticed something.

"Where's Mecha?" I asked.

"He can't come tonight," said Sebastian. "He has to 'fix' his hair and tail."

"What about Bubblegum?"

"She's going to make a speech for the upcoming project she told us a few months ago."

I nodded. I remembered she planned about it after the Infinite War. She said that the project would 'make the world a better place'.

Just then, the lights dimmed a bit. Everyone looked at the stage. We saw Mayor Wills coming out from the curtains. Polite applause filled the air as he stepped near the edge.

"Thank you," he said. "I hoped that you're having a good night. As you all know, the Tournament is about to come to an end with the Finals around the corner. As a special performance, here is Bay Be and Blazer Member Clay Colourz performing 'Titanium'!" [1]

The crowd cheered as the curtain went up revealing the entire stage. Bay was in the middle of a mini white platform with Clay on the turntables behind her. The background screen showed moving futuristic shapes. The music started off with a soft electric guitar solo before Bay began singing.

"This is a nice song to sing," said Emerald. "It has a good rhythm."

I looked at Clay. He seemed to be enjoying himself; moving the discs, turning up the volume and pressing on the keyboard and the Launchpad. He even sang a bit at some parts. At one point, Emerald took my arm and dragged me into the wild mosh pit though no one was bumping into each other.

"What are you doing?!" I said.

"C'mon," Emerald said. "Dance!"

"I still can't dance, YOU KNOW!" I said turning red.

"C'mon. Give it your all!"

I sighed and tried to do. But it seemed cringing. At one point, I kicked my legs up and landed on the ground.

"Are you OK?" said Emerald helping me get up.

"I'm still a horrible dancer," I thought as I turned hot pink.

Finally, the song ended. The audience applauded. Bay and Clay went off the stage with Clay shaking a bit.

"Let's give a big thank you to Bay Be and Clay," said Mayor Wills as he got up. "Before we end the night, we have an important announcement from the Forest Tournament Police. Sharing her ideas, here is Police Chief, Beth Lehem."

Another polite applause was heard as Bubblegum walked onto the stage.

"Thank you," she said. "It's been at least four months since I became the Police Chief. You might know why I'm up here so let's get it straight to the point."

She took a deep breath and continued.

"My dad – Eddie Lehem – was a great police cop. His greatest achievement was to make the world a better place. In other words, he wanted to help others, make peace and wiped out fear and sadness for GOOD. He saved my life, but it cost his life; wanting me to continue the dream even though he may not be here to accomplish that achievement."

Bubblegum's eyes were barely dry. She took another deep breath and continued.

"I don't want that dream to be forgotten. I want that achievement to happen. Earth is still a hell-like place. Even after the war ended. All is fair in love and war but letting the weak dies is DEPLORABLY CRUEL. So I'm organizing a project; I'm calling for more new police cops to be hired and join a group called the 'New Police Force'. Soon, they'll go around the world, visiting many countries and provide services that may help others. They will be supported by other communities who are doing similar missions. This isn't about being a hero. This is about helping other people as if they are our family. This is about taking care of our entire community. This is about changing the world we once knew as a haven. But nobody can go on their own, so we all need to team up together to rise and protect this planet!"

Many people started to agree. Some of them were chattering to each other. Some of them kept nodding.

"Hiring forms are available. We need all the help we need. And I know that with teamwork and the town's finest, we can wipe out the cycle of crimes from the face of the Earth…"

Bubblegum seemed to hesitate. She was looking up at the sky. I turned around to see what she was looking at. I saw some shadows flying in the air before ducking below.

"…forever…"

Just then, screaming could be heard.

"HELP!" called a running magpie from the street. "There's some kind of monster!"

Behind him was a chasing rhino.

A GIANT RHINO. It had very sharp horns, flaming eyes and a huge tantrum. What was significant about it was the skin. It seemed to be made out of…

"Dark shadows?" I thought recognizing the black skin with the constant moving purple streaks. "Could this be?"

There was no time to think about it. The beast roared and everyone started to scream.

"EVERYONE!" Bubblegum yelled. "TAKE COVER RIGHT NOW!"

Hearing this, I quickly grabbed Emerald's hand and caught up with Sebastian.

"Quick!" I said. "Inside!"

We went into the nearest cafe and watched from the windows to see many police cops appeared, to battle the dark rhino.

* * *

**Third Person's POV**

"What is that?" said Clay hiding behind the curtains.

"I'm not sure," said Bubblegum staring at the rhino. "But it doesn't look friendly. Hit the deck already, Clay!"

Before Clay could do anything, Bubblegum RIPPED off the robe and shorts she was wearing and threw them at the turquoise wolf.

"Ergh!" said Clay tearing the clothes off his face. "This is no time for…"

But he saw Bubblegum in her cop police vest.

"I didn't know that you wore that vest underneath your clothes," Clay said.

"A police cop ALWAYS gets prepared," said Bubblegum putting on her earpiece and jumped off the stage.

Soon, the police cops surrounded the black beast. It scrapped the ground like a bull about to charge. The cops quickly whipped out their guns; filled with tranquiliser darts. The darts shot out of the small barrels at a fast speed. But unfortunately, the darts just absorbed into the rhino, not affecting it.

At this, the rhino gave a demonic roar, charged and smashed its head into one of the cops.

"WAH!"

The unlucky cop hit into a nearby building before fell and unconscious.

"Darn!" thought Bubblegum as the rhino ran off into the street.

As far as she could tell, the rhino was running in only one direction and speeding up. Through quick calculations, she guessed that the rhino was heading to the middle of the town.

"Split up!" she said to her cops. "We'll meet each other in the middle to block it. Get anything you can to prevent it from escaping."

At the tone of her voice, the police cops all went into different directions with Bubblegum chasing after the dark rhino. Within minutes, she caught up with it at the town center. The rhino continued running and smashed into a concrete fountain. Despite the impact, the rhino didn't receive any damage and continued to run straight to another street. That was until a cat cop – holding a Burst Wispon with fire coming out of the nozzle – appeared blocking its path.

The rhino took fright of the flame and since it couldn't stop, the only thing it could do was to turn. It nearly fell but was about to escape through another street when a wolf cop appeared also holding a Burst Wispon. It didn't take long for the other cops to block the streets. By the time the rhino realized that, it only had one choice to run towards Bubblegum; she didn't have anything that contained fire.

Without stopping, it charged towards her, but she quickly got out a METAL BASEBALL BAT and smashed the head like a mallet.

KAWHOMP!

The head exploded into dark-like magic - including the body. It evaporated into black shadows with purple streaks before disappearing into thin air. Bubblegum sighed in relief.

* * *

**Belt's POV**

Finally, the dark rhino was gone. Everyone got out of their hiding spots. Mayor Wills went onto the stage with a worried look on his face.

"Err…" he said. "Sorry, folks. It looked like something was going on in town. I would like everyone to stay indoors for tonight and do not go outside 'till tomorrow. The police will investigate this problem. Also, the finals will happen on the 12th of December so keep your eyes open."

Many people started to chatter, exchanging worried looks.

I found Clay running towards me.

"Belt!" he said. "What do you think was that?"

"I'm not sure," I said.

"Do you think it could be an attack from-"

"No. That wouldn't be possible."

"Then where did it come from?"

Suddenly, the memory of going into the Forbidden Cave flashed over my eyes.

The gigantic black cloud of darkness with dark purple streaks. The sounds were demonic and scary.

I compared that to the rhino. It seemed to be those same shadows I saw the day before. And the roar; it sounded so demonic. Like those shadows. I put those two together and I realized something. Something was NOT right.

"Clay," I said. "Get back to our house. I'll catch up with you later."

Clay nodded and went off. I waited until I couldn't see him before running off. I got to tell Bubblegum about this.

I found Bubblegum and the police cops in the town center. They were discussing with the fountain behind them. Or at least what remained of it. It was just nothing but stone rubble with water leaking.

I went to the group and tapped on Bubblegum's shoulder.

"What?" she said.

"I need to talk with you alone," I said.

We both walked away from the group and hid behind a building.

"OK," said Bubblegum. "What do you need to tell me?"

"I think I might know where that rhino came from," I said. "AND what it was made of. I think it was from that same dark cloud we saw yesterday."

"Do you really think so?"

"But did you see its skin? It was all black with purple streaks. Remember?"

Bubblegum nodded.

"And remember how it sounded like? That bloodcurdling roar?"

Bubblegum nodded again.

"Well, I think that rhino might be a part of that cloud of darkness."

"How come?" asked Bubblegum.

"Well, when we accidentally released it, it must had split into more clouds and zoomed off into the sky. Maybe one of those clouds took the form of a rhino to attack our town. Cloud of darkness is not a good thing. Who knows what damage they will do next?"

"OK. What are we going to do about it?"

"We got to stop them. The scroll we found might be the key. It might tell us what we should do to solve the problem. Or we could just go without it, but maybe it's important."

"But the scroll is in alien language! How are we supposed to know what it is saying?"

I stopped for a while. Then I realized this: one person in our town who could understand the scroll.

"We could ask Mecha to help us," I said.

"I told you!" hissed Bubblegum. "We are NOT telling anyone about this! I made that VERY clear."

"Yeah but it's just one person. And he's the only guy we know who might understand that language on the scroll."

"I guess you're right. He's a smart person. He might help."

"Let's ask him tomorrow. As we still keep this secret, don't tell the rest of our friends about it."

* * *

**[1] 'Titanium' belongs to David Guetta and Sia. If anyone find putting a song into this chapter is wrong, please tell me and I will get rid of it immediately.**

**AN: Looks like we got a spark that will ignite the set of events for this story! **

**About the tournament, that idea came from Splatoon. I was kind of inspired by the Turf Wars, so I wanted to add some sport tournament to the town which becomes its tradition. I chose tennis for the challenge since my brother plays that sport.**

**Ryan and Ian are Mecha's teammates. They are 'servants' of Mecha though they just wanted to look out for their captain. They didn't appear in Dark Wolf Begins, so hopefully I can give them a part in the upcoming rewrite.**

**That's all for today. ****If you like this story: follow or favorite this story for updates of the story. Make sure to review this chapter on what you thought of this story. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).**

**The question for this chapter: Do you think it was a grand idea to add in a sport tournament for the Forest Tournament Town? And what do you think might be those dark shadows? Please put your answers in the reviews.**

**Until next time, stay tune and I will see you all in the next chapter next Monday!**


	3. First Stop: Melbourne

**AN: Hey everyone! A big thanks for Infinite's Ruby for following my story. Go check hers out! Here is Chapter 3, everyone! I hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

**Chapter 3 – First Stop: Melbourne**

**9/12 (at 9:30 am)**

The second Clay went off to see Tom for a quick meeting, I took the opportunity to get to Bubblegum's house. I checked that I had the scroll in my vest pocket and that nobody was watching me before going off.

Like I said before, Bubblegum stayed at Emerald's house. It wasn't that hard to find their house. When I got to the house, Bubblegum opened the door already.

"Do you have the scroll?" she asked.

I took it out. "Yeah."

We started heading to Mecha's house; a big golden house that it didn't look like Mecha was old enough to have. The first thing we noticed was that the door was left OPENED.

"What sort of idiot would leave their door opened?" said Bubblegum.

"I don't know" I said. "Should we let him know we're here?"

"And spoil the surprise? Let's just go in."

Before I could make any protest, Bubblegum opened the door widely and gingerly went in. I followed her.

As I stepped in, I felt like I was in a kingdom. That was the same way I felt when being invited to Mecha's house for a team meeting. Every room looked so fancy with the walls painted in gold and turquoise. Huge rooms with shiny furniture, famous Australian pictures he bought, a mini cinema, a small gym, a high-tech kitchen, a bathtub the size of a swimming pool and a landing pad on the roof including a large telescope!

Mecha was so lucky to get a house like this for himself.

As we went across the hallway, we could hear sounds.

"What is that?" said Bubblegum.

"It sounds like it's coming from there," I said pointing to a door.

The door was left wide open. We peeked from the wall and saw that it was the science lab. There were many benches with bubbling mixtures and complicated experiments. To top all of that, we saw Mecha on a wobbly pile of textbooks – speaking possibly in French – and writing on the blackboard with TWO hands. On the blackboard, there were many diagrams; a digestive system, a large food chain, an elementary table and the one Mecha's drawing seemed to be about oxygen, judging by the different coloured circles he drew.

"That is a lot of work," said Bubblegum. "I wonder how he was able to keep up with all this study. It's as if he's trying to get a high-paying job."

"He seems to be enjoying it though," I said.

It was pretty obvious that Mecha didn't notice us. But when he did, he freaked out.

"OH MON DIEU!" he screamed as he fell off.

('Oh mon Dieu' means 'oh my gosh' in French)

He fell onto the ground, but that wasn't all. The tower of textbooks crumbled and toppled over the turquoise bird.

CRASH!

The textbooks buried Mecha in a huge pile. But once he was able to get his head out, a flying textbook hit him on the head.

"Ouch," he grumbled.

"Are you OK?" I said helping him up.

"I'm OK," he said. "Just one question: HOW DID YOU GET INTO MY HOUSE?"

"The front door," said Bubblegum smiling.

"Amhosibl," said Mecha shaking his head. "No one can get in. I made a booby trap at the door."

('Amhosibl' means 'impossible' in Welsh)

"Well, it didn't seem to work properly."

"Anyway, why are you here?"

"We need you for something about what happened last night."

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't know?"

"I was staying up all night trying to grow my feathers fast."

That was when I noticed Mecha's hair and tail feathers had grown back to its normal length; no longer short and completely long.

"What happened during the party?" he asked.

"Well," I said. "We were interrupted by a rhino that seemed to be made of shadows. It attacked the town, but the police force was able to fend it off."

"Yeah," said Bubblegum. "And we thought that it might be something that was related to the Forbidden Cave."

"Wait a minute," said Mecha pulling up his finger-less gloves. "YOU TWO went into the Forbidden Cave."

Bubblegum and I nodded. Mecha looked impressed.

"What did you see there?" he asked.

"We came across an underground chamber," I explained. "We found a scroll, but it turned out to be a trap. A huge cloud of darkness chased us and we quickly escaped just before the cave collapsed and those shadows escaped as well. We didn't tell anyone so far. But later, we found out that the dark rhino and the clouds of darkness might be the same and the scroll we found might be a clue about it."

I took out the scroll from my vest.

"We couldn't understand what it said," I continued. "We think you might understand it."

Mecha shrugged as I gave him the scroll. "I guess I could try."

He opened the scroll and narrowed his eyes.

"Strange," he said. "I barely saw this language, but I remember that language from one of my textbooks."

He looked at it for a long time before saying out loud, "GREETINGS WHOEVER FOUND THIS. IT APPEARS THAT YOU HAVE UNLEASHED THE DARK GAIA FROM THE EARTH'S CORE. NOW IT WILL CAUSE DESTRUCTION ACROSS THE WORLD AND IT iS TOO POWERFUL TO BE STOPPED BY ANYONE. THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO STOP IT. NOW, ACROSS 6 CONTINENTS, THERE WILL BE 6 PIECES YOU NEED TO FIND AND FORM IT INTO A SPECIAL GEM CALLED THE DAYNIGHT DIAMOND. ONCE ALL PIECES ARE FORMED TOGETHER, YOU NEED TO FIND THE LIGHT GAIA SO THAT HE CAN DEFEAT THE DARK GAIA USING THAT DIAMOND AND SEND THAT MONSTER BACK TO THE CORE FROM CONFLICT. BUT THOSE PIECES CAN ONLY BE FOUND AT NIGHT AND WHOEVER TOUCHES IT WILL BECOME REAL AND NOT A VISION. IT MAY SOUND COMPLICATED, BUT THE FATE OF THE WORLD DEPENDS ON YOU."

When he finished, Mecha winced.

"D…Dark Gaia?" said Bubblegum worriedly.

"Yes," said Mecha. "Dark Gaia."

"Well thanks for pointing out who made that beast into our town," I said. "Can anyone explained to me what 'Dark Gaia' is?"

"It's a god," said Mecha. "The god of darkness, night and destruction."

I looked at Mecha dumbfounded. A god?

"A god?!" I said. "That cannot be possible! There couldn't be more gods in the universe."

"Correction," said Mecha matter-of-factly. "There are MANY gods around the world other than the god you believed in. They all just have their own purpose in different traditions and counties. Nobody REALLY knows who is the real and good god of the entire universe."

"Alright. So let me get the point, our job is to go AROUND the world to collect six pieces to make a diamond that could defeat Dark Gaia with the help of Light Gaia. But those pieces are only real at night time or when someone touches them and they will be hard to find. Am I right?"

Bubblegum and Mecha both nodded.

"And plus," I said. "How are we supposed to find the Light Gaia? It's IMPOSSIBLE to find such gods like them!"

"Tch," tutted Bubblegum. "ANYTHING is possible."

"And what makes you believe that? We have never gotten this KIND of journey we have to do."

"Never say never! Remember the Infinite War? Did you believe that it might come to an end?"

I nodded.

"And did Clay believe he could save the world with Sonic?"

I stayed silent. I wasn't there with the Resistance so I wouldn't know what really happened.

"Just with a lot of hard work, daring ideas and teamwork, we could make it happen. The scroll said: the fate of the world depends on US. We got to do it. If we believe it is possible, it won't be impossible again."

"But…it's too impossible. How can I do something that I never did before? I helped save the world once, but I'm still new to this. I'm pretty worried. Clay would be worried as well."

"You need to have hope. Hope that you would find. The sooner you realise, the more you'll know."

I shrugged. Maybe she's right.

"Well?" said Bubblegum.

"Fine then," I said. "The world depends on us."

"Sound like a true Resistance soldier."

My head started to spin again.

"I'll assist you two," Mecha said. "You always need a genius when saving the world."

Bubblegum laughed. "Ok, bird-brain. What is our first move?"

"We'll have to prepare. Get anything that we need. This will be our most dangerous mission. Meet at the town gates and DON'T tell anyone about it."

"I thought you might spread the news," I said.

"But if it's a SECRET, then I'll keep it SECRET," said Mecha. "I don't have to tell anyone about this."

"A question though," I said. "Why would the Dark Gaia be unleashed by just the press of ONE STONE PLATE? Wouldn't it be summoned by cracking the world open or…by a ritual?"

"I don't know. Maybe it was some dumb writer who decided to throw a spawn so easy to use. Pathetic ancient magic."

"We will meet at the town gates," said Bubblegum as we walked towards the door. "And also bring your weapons."

But as I stepped onto the mat, I felt a big tug. And then…

WHOMP!

I felt a large net trapping and springing me up.

"ARGH!" I screamed. "HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!"

"Guess the booby trap worked THIS time," said Bubblegum.

I growled under my breath. I let one claw got out from my glove and cut the ropes.

PFFT!

As soon as I did that, the net broke and I fell to the floor hard.

"**Stupid net,**" I growled in pain.

"I REALLY need to fix the booby trap," said Mecha.

* * *

**10:15 am**

I checked to see if I got all the proper things I needed in my travelling backpack. I made sure that the Wisp that made the energy from my Wispon came along with me. It seemed to be happy about coming along. I picked up my backpack from my bed, but it was so HEAVY. That explained the extra weight for a GUITAR (though it was quite small) I decided to bring along.

Before I went out, I left a little note on a coffee table reading: _I'll be away for a while with Bubblegum and Mecha. I promise that I'll be there before the Tournament Finals begin._

Smiling, I took my keys and locked the door.

I arrived outside the town gates where Bubblegum and Mecha were waiting each carrying a much lighter-looking backpack.

I saw what Mecha was wearing; a black long trench jacket, an army camouflage shirt, black pants and army camouflage boots. It looked very outlandish in summer, excluding the goggles and finger-less gloves he always wore. I swore I saw a black singlet under his shirt.

"Why are you wearing three layers?" I said. "It's not winter in Australia now."

Mecha smirked. "Once upon a time. But I always do that for an adventure. You might never know when you needed a long-sleeved clothes."

"So what did you bring along?" asked Bubblegum.

"Not only my Wispon," I said before pulling out a shiny sharp red sword. "This!"

"Infinite's sword!" said Bubblegum staring at it surprised. "The one Mecha gave it to you."

"Uh-huh," I said. "I'm going to use it on the battlefield."

I realized that on the other hand, Mecha seemed to wince when he saw the sword. That was when I saw something poking out of Mecha's bag.

"What's that?" I asked.

"You mean this?" said Mecha pulling out something from his bag.

As quick as lightning, he pulled out a large bazooka. It looked pretty tough and new. It was in a stunning yellow, turquoise and light blue color. It had the words 'XS 8' in gold written on it. Unlike a normal bazooka, it had a tank connected to it at the bottom and seemed to be filled with turquoise liquid.

"Do you know what this is?" he asked.

I shrugged. "A huge cannon?" I guessed.

"It's the Flood Splash!" said Mecha. "Version XS 8. This bazooka can shoot out powerful WAVES of water that could WIPE out almost an entire army with ease! It's also useful for cleaning up in seconds."

"That sounds pretty dangerous," I said.

"Relax. As if I'm going to use it on YOU, Glasses. Wait 'till I get this baby back on the war. It is sturdier than you THINK it is."

I nodded even though I didn't like what he called me.

"Anyway," I said. "Where do we go to find the missing pieces?"

"I was able to scan the scroll," said Mecha taking out a device. "Now I will be able to locate the missing Daynight diamond pieces."

He pressed it a few times before receiving a result.

"The closest one is in our country…in Melbourne."

"And how far is it from HERE to THERE?" asked Bubblegum.

Mecha checked his tracking device again. "You wouldn't want to know."

"What are we waiting for?" I said. "LET'S GO!"

And so, we went off into the forest with Mecha constantly checking on his tracking device to see where we're going.

"This is going to be a pretty long walk," Bubblegum said.

"How far can Melbourne be?" I said.

* * *

**5:30 pm**

"This is VERY long," I complained. "Are we there yet?"

"That is the 59th time you said that," said Mecha sweating as he pushed a branch. "Of course it takes a long time to get there."

All of a sudden, I caught a scent. "We're almost there. I can smell it."

"About time too," said Bubblegum.

I looked through thick bushes. And there, I saw it on a large hill; a large city in the background.

"Well, we're here," I said.

We continued on our journey. And before I knew it, we were already in one of the big cities in Australia. There were a lot of tall buildings almost rising to the clouds. Old buildings were kept the same. The streets were busy with rolling cars and crowds of people. It was nice. But as a wolf, one thing wasn't nice was the smell. It was more of SMELLbourne.

"What's the matter?" said Mecha teasingly. "Forgot your nose pegs?"

"Be quiet," I said.

I looked around. There were so many people here. I was surprised to see other anthropomorphic animals in the city.

I had a question in mind. "Have you guys been here before?"

"Yeah," said Bubblegum. "I came here a few times during the holidays."

"And I came here only once for work experience," said Mecha.

"What about you?"

"I don't think I've ever been in a city like this before," I said. "You know back then I was overprotective of Clay and I didn't dare to go to huge cities. I'm usually wary of strangers around big areas."

Bubblegum checked the time. "There are two more hours 'till sunset," she said. "We should take a bite first."

She stopped at a fast food restaurant. I was about to go in when I saw Mecha looking at it critically.

"You're still on that diet," I said. "Aren't you?"

"I'm just going to wait outside," said Mecha pulling up his finger-less gloves.

"You can't fight with an empty stomach."

"Oh please! I can go on without any food. I went on many journeys around the world and I can handle ANYTHING."

But the second he said that, he caught a glimpse of someone cutting beef. And that person was holding a SHARP KNIFE.

Seeing it, Mecha freaked out.

"NEVER MIND!" he squawked as he pushed me in.

"You just wanted to get away from that knife," I mumbled as we got to Bubblegum's table.

As we sat, I looked around. There were many humans. I wasn't feeling comfortable about it though.

"I'm just going to take a drink," said Mecha. "Best than nothing."

The waiter took our orders, but before he could go, another person showed up and said, "Ahem. Add a vanilla milkshake to that as well."

Bubblegum groaned. "Tina."

"Hello there, pink cat," said that person as she sat down.

Looking up, I saw the person was a girl with black hair with a blonde string, wearing a white shirt, a pink skirt and blue hi-heels.

"Haven't seen you in a long time!" Tina said as the waiter went off. "And you brought some friends along here?"

"Uh…yeah," said Bubblegum. "The bird is Mecha and the wolf is Belt."

"Nice to see you!" said Tina as she rubbed my hair causing me to chuckle a bit. "I didn't expect to see more creatures like Bubblegum!"

Tina attempted to rub Mecha's hair feathers, but Mecha quickly slapped her hand before she could.

"You wouldn't do that to a lady, would you?" joked Tina.

"Don't pluck my feathers please," said Mecha.

We got our meals and Tina started to blather. I was barely listening, but Bubblegum looked concentrated.

"…and also, I was able to be on TV!" boasted Tina. "Too bad you couldn't be on there!"

Bubblegum growled as a response to that. Mecha snickered. Suddenly, Tina's smile turned into a serious frown.

"Something happened in town the last two nights," said Tina. "On the first night, almost everyone in the city saw dark shadows flying over the sky. We thought that it was just dark clouds or somewhat rain was coming, but they were LITERALLY shadows. In the sky."

I gulped. Bubblegum gave me a worried look. Mecha glanced at both of us.

"And last night," continued Tina. "I was walking in the park when out of the blue, a monster appeared out of nowhere."

"How did it look like?" I said.

Tina paused there, uncalled to memory.

"I took a photo of it before running away," she said taking out her phone.

We all looked at the photo. Compared to the monster in the photo, the rhino that attacked our town looked less deadly. This one seemed to be a large humanoid lizard in purple and light blue colours, not to mention some black parts. It carried a large Warhammer, making my sword looked completely harmless.

I winced at the photo.

"I'm not sure what that it," said Tina. "But it got something to do with those shadows. Also, something happened to the people here during the night. My friends started to have some kind of purple clouds over their heads and were acting kind of strange."

"In what way?" asked Mecha pulling up his finger-less gloves.

"They seemed to be negative. This wasn't how they were before. The news team has been asked to investigate and I heard that the government wants some answers by tomorrow."

At last, Tina finished her drink.

"Well. I'm going now. See you later!" she said.

"WAIT!" snapped Mecha. "You haven't paid yet."

"Oh, of course," said Tina throwing a coin at him. "But I don't need to, next time."

"You still have too. People need to take responsibility of what they buy."

"Let's not quibble about something SO small."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SMALL?!" yelled Bubblegum as Tina laughed.

Bubblegum wasn't the only one ticked off. Mecha and I were taken aback as well.

Tina skipped towards the bathroom door.

"Just to warn you," she said. "Whatever you do, don't go to the National Park. It's closed for an investigation. Police had already barred the borders of the park and put in security cameras. If you do, you'll be charged."

She went in, but then her head popped back.

"And plus," she said smiling. "You won't grow taller if you continue eating THAT kind of fast food."

This TOTALLY ticked Bubblegum off.

"Tina…GET OUT OF THIS PLACE!" she screamed.

"I have crap to do first, shorties!" Tina said before comically disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door.

I growled under my breath. At that moment, I didn't like to be called short.

"Um guys," said Mecha.

"What?" snarled Bubblegum angrily.

"That photo Tina showed us. It's a Dark Guardian."

"Dark Guardian?" I said.

"It's one of Dark Gaia's minions. It seemed that these creatures must have invaded almost every single country in the world. They might be trying to fend off anyone who tried to get the Daynight pieces. Also, the Dark Gaia's minions could infect people causing them to act differently."

"This is getting harder and harder at every minute," Bubblegum said.

"And according to my tracking device, the Daynight piece will appear at the National Park tonight."

"How are we to get in?" I said. "Everyone's forbidden to enter. They already guarded the place and put up security cameras to save the trouble."

Mecha's face brightened up. "I've just had the best idea ever."

* * *

**9:05 pm**

"This is the stupidest idea ever," grumbled Bubblegum as we made our way through THE SEWERS.

"Best than nothing," said Mecha.

"Ugh…" I said, pinching my nose. "I've never been a place filled with smog before."

This was absolutely bullcrap. The Sewers wasn't a nice place to start with. It was underground, cold and there was a long river of dirty water filled with urine, poop and WHO-KNOWS-WHAT. There was barely any light.

We finally found the drain to the park. I climbed up the ladder and opened the hole cover. As I made my way out, I looked around. It was a large neat-looking garden. Just behind me were tall fences surrounding the National Park with signs saying to keep out.

"Next time, we aren't using the sewers EVER AGAIN." I said as Bubblegum and Mecha came out.

"I know where the Daynight piece is," said Mecha looking at his tracking device, though it was covered in dirty marks. "It is in the fountain….in the middle."

"I wonder where those Dark Gaia minions are," I said looking around. "You said that they appear at night."

"Maybe there might be none here tonight. I guess everything will be alright."

"That's good," said Bubblegum. "But we got to be careful. Get out your weapons just in case something big happens."

I took out my Wispon. We walked slowly through the park. I kept my eyes and ears up. And then, I stopped. My ears twitched. I sniffed through the air. I felt a growl forming in my chest.

"What's wrong Belt?" asked Mecha.

I let out a growl and out of the shadows, something came out. It was a Dark Guardian. The same monster Tina showed us but compared to real life, the photo she showed looked tiny.

"Well," said Mecha. "He's PRETTY big."

"Tch," said Bubblegum. "It's only us three and only one of them."

But when she said that, more creatures out of the bushes. Soon enough, we were surrounded by Dark Gaia's minions.

"This wouldn't be too hard, huh!" I said sarcastically.

"Whatever!" said Bubblegum. "Let's just focus on these monsters."

I pointed my Wispon and pressed the trigger.

FHOOOSH!

A large fireball came out and hit some of the dark monsters. The burnt creatures absorbed into dark energy. A few of them scattered.

"The fire!" said Mecha. "They are afraid of the fire!"

"Got it!" I said.

Soon, we split up and started to attack the monsters. I was shooting out fireballs and at some point, I whipped out my sword and spun around cutting off the heads of the monsters. I had to use my powers to make shields and energy balls to protect myself.

As I fought, I looked to the left. Mecha was a blur as he sped towards the monsters with his Drill Wispon. At some point, he stopped and started to punch and kicked them. He even did an impressive roundhouse.

Bubblegum was using a new Wispon: a Void Wispon which could suck enemies in. She was using it as a vacuum machine sweeping up everything in front of her and making black holes to get rid of her enemies. She even used hand combats, but despite having lower skills than Mecha, she seemed to be enjoying herself.

I was brought back to the present when the Dark Guardian came in and swung the Warhammer at me. I was able to duck in time.

"Belt!" said Mecha. "Get back!"

I quickly did what he said. Mecha then got out his XS 8 Flood Splash and aimed at the Dark Guardian.

"Say hello to mah little friend!" he said.

The Dark Guardian roared as Mecha pressed the trigger.

WHOOOOOOOOSHHH!

The Flood Splash had a big effect. A gigantic wave of turquoise liquid poured out and hit the Dark Guardian, flushing it away. The wave hit the ground with a loud splash and poured through the trees. Finally, it disappeared leaving the garden of trees unharmed and looking FRESH!

I looked at Mecha mouth-opened.

"Always works, doesn't it?" he said smugly.

I nodded approvingly.

We continued walking toward the middle of the park. A few meters away from the fountain was a large crack.

"Huh?" said Bubblegum. "Would you look at that!"

"It's so wide!" I said while walking forward to the edge of the crack.

"It's so deep!" said Mecha.

"What do you think is down there?" I said.

"Probably where the Daynight piece is."

Suddenly, a big wave of purple streaks flew up into my face. And with that, I started to feel dizzy.

* * *

**Third Person's POV**

Bubblegum and Mecha watched as the helpless Belt started to have purple clouds all over his head. Meanwhile, the Dark Gaia's minions came out from the crack and wasted no time. They started to attack.

"More incoming!" said Bubblegum.

But for Belt, he looked around. More Dark Gaia's minions were pouring in from every direction. It seemed that there were far too many of them.

"What…what is going on?!" he said swiping his sword in the air. "They're coming from every direction!"

"He's infected!" said Mecha as he punched one of the dark creatures. "Belt! Snap out of it! What you're seeing is not real!"

Though that was great advice, Belt was far from listening. He was hallucinating seeing visions of more monsters. He was spinning around with his sword flashing through the air. He almost chopped off Bubblegum's and Mecha's heads.

"How can we bring him back to his senses?" said Bubblegum jumping backwards.

"Dark Gaia's minions can't resist light," said Mecha kicking another of the dark critters. "We need to use a flashlight."

Bubblegum had an idea. She went towards Belt and grabbed out her phone.

"This might help," she said.

SNAP!

The camera instantly flashed over Belt's eyes. The purple clouds disappeared. That was good news as Belt could see properly, but the bad news was that he was at the edge of the crack.

And oh. He lost his balance.

* * *

**Belt's POV**

I fell over when a burst of light flashed in front of my eyes. The next thing I knew was falling into the crack. I screamed loudly as I fell into the pitch darkness. But that didn't last long.

BUMP! CRASH! THUMP!

I constantly hit many rock ledges before landing hard on the ground, bum-first.

"Ouch," I groaned.

I heard voices from above.

"That's all of them," said Mecha.

"Oh no," said Bubblegum.

"What's wrong?"

"Belt just fell into that crack. I'm not sure what's at the bottom."

"That's a big fall."

"Do you think he's-?"

I howled loudly to let them know I was still alive.

"OW!" said Bubblegum through my headset. "You're screaming over my earpiece! Next time, TELL us that you're alright."

"Oh," I said turning pink. "Sorry."

"I located where the Daynight piece is," said Mecha. "It's somewhere near you."

"I think you guys should come down," I said. "I can't go out searching for it myself."

"Ok then," said Bubblegum.

"Well ladies first," said Mecha charmingly.

"You're too 'kind'," said Bubblegum deadpanned.

"How about you two go down TOGETHER at once?" I said.

But immediately, I wished I didn't say that. I heard Bubblegum and Mecha falling down the hole before crashing onto me.

WHAM!

Within moments, we were all in a sprawling pile.

"Get off me you idiot!" hissed Bubblegum.

"Don't call me an idiot!" snapped Mecha.

"Yes, you are! You're lying on top of me!"

"Well, you're sitting on my feathers!"

"How about you two get off me?!" I said.

Finally, we were able to extract ourselves. We looked around. The cavern we were in was all just rock and tunnels.

"Nice," I said. "A dark and creepy maze. Where do we go next?"

Mecha checked his tracking device. He seemed frustrated with it because he kept hitting it.

"The connection is crap at this level," he said. "We're gonna have to look for it on our own."

But Bubblegum wasn't looking.

"Um, guys," she said pointing to something.

I looked where she was pointing. It was at a stranger hiding behind a tunnel. But that stranger quickly ran off.

"Hey!" I said. "Stop!"

"What are you doing?" said Mecha.

I ignored him and chased after the stranger. It went through a lot of tunnels before disappearing on the left. I was able to catch up, but I came to a dead end. There was almost nothing except for a few large rocks lying around. I noticed the stranger hiding behind one of the rocks.

"Hey there," I said coming towards the stranger.

It turned around and yelped in fright. At first, I thought it was Infinite. But then, I realized that I was wrong. And the wrong look.

It seemed to be a male wolf. His fur was black with deep purple streaks on his long front bangs that were combed to the right; two on the front and three behind. He had red eyes, white chest fur on his torso and a long bushy tail. He seemed to be living rough because of what he wore; his black gloves were almost torn and his black shoes were partly ripped. His arms had white stripes on them.

I hesitated for a moment, but I knew that the wolf needed help.

"Are you OK?" I asked.

"**Just leave me alone,**" said the wolf looking away. His voice was gruff and sounded more like a growl.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you."

"**I prefer to be alone.**"

At this, Bubblegum and Mecha came. They were surprised when they saw the black wolf.

"Whoa!" said Mecha. "Who…who are you?!"

"**Just please go…**" said the wolf. "**I don't want to…hurt you,**"

"Calm down. I know that you won't. And I won't."

"Just what the heck are you doing in a cave?" said Bubblegum.

The wolf sighed as he got to his feet. "**I've been here all my life.**"

"So…what's your name?" I said.

The wolf shrugged sadly. "**It might be weird but…I don't know.**"

Silence.

"What?!" said Bubblegum. "You don't know your name?"

The wolf nodded.

"You're not kidding, are you?" I said.

The wolf shook his head.

"Typical amnesia," said Mecha sensing something was wrong. "Do you remember about anything at all?"

"**I don't really remember who I am or where I came from,**" said the wolf. "**Four years ago, I woke up to see myself alone here. I wondered what was going on. I spent the next few years staying all alone and barely come out on the surface. But what I do know was who created me.**"

"Who did?" I asked.

The wolf did another sad sigh. "**D-Dark Gaia.**"

My mouth opened wide. "WHAT?!"

"You're…a minion of Dark Gaia?" said Mecha.

The wolf nodded. "**I am. But somehow, I'm not like the rest of the others. I have a mind of my own and not just a mindless clone. I even noticed the wrongs of my race.**"

We stayed quiet. I eyed the wolf suspiciously.

"**I tried to get help about my true past, but the Dark Gaia refused to answer. I wanted to go up to the surface and get help from the people, but I'm not sure how they would think of me. I am lonely, but I don't think anyone would like a dark demon like me.**"

The tone of the wolf was sad despite the gruff growls. Bubblegum seemed to feel sorry for him.

"It'll be OK," she said. "We could help you find your memories."

The wolf looked surprised. "**Y…You would?**"

"Well anyone needs help" said Mecha smiling smugly. "You might look unworthy, but you need someone to take their wings over yours."

The wolf smiled. "**T…Thank you.**"

Bubblegum and Mecha smiled. I stared at the wolf with a blank expression. For some reason, I found the wolf suspiciously. I ignored that and I raised my hand.

"Allow me to introduce myself," I said. "I'm Belt. Belt Colourz."

The wolf shook my hand. "**Well that seemed to be an odd name,**" he said.

I shrugged.

"I'm Beth," said Bubblegum. "But I'm usually referred to as Bubblegum."

"Call me Mecha," said Mecha winking. "Is it OK if we could give a name?"

The wolf said, "**That's OK. Any name.**"

"How about 'Wolfgang'? Has a nice ring to it."

"**Hmm…I'm fine with that.**"

Just then, I noticed something glowing in Wolfgang's hand.

"Hey," I said. "What's that?"

Wolfgang showed us what it was. It seemed to be a white shiny diamond piece with a glowing green aura.

"Is that…THE DAYNIGHT PIECE?!" squawked Mecha.

"**Yeah,**" said Wolfgang. "**I have been looking for these pieces so that I could stop the Dark Gaia from invading the world. I found another one, but I left it back at its original spot...I don't remember why though. How come you know about it?**"

"We are looking for those pieces," I said. "Dark Gaia already sent some minions up to the surface. We've seen the results. We're responsible for this and it's our job to find them."

Wolfgang looked at the Daynight piece before giving it to me. "**You need some assistance,**" he said as I put it in my vest pocket. "**I could help you. I could sense where the Daynight pieces are.**"

"That's good," said Bubblegum. "Thanks for your offer. Do you know where the next piece is?"

"**It's in Asia,**" said Wolfgang. "**I think it's in Japan. I know a way to get there through here.**"

Mecha realized what Wolfgang's plan was. "I'm not sure about it. There are a lot of tunnels underground and we might end up getting lost or maybe attacked by another wave of monsters. To be safe, we should get back on the surface."

"**I'm not sure about it,**" said Wolfgang anxiously.

"Just relax. We'll be fine."

Despite Wolfgang's protest, we went back up to the surface. If it wasn't for Bubblegum's grappling gun, we wouldn't be able to get up to the surface.

"OK," I said. "So our next destination is to Japan which is 8254 km from here. How are we going to get there?"

"Maybe we could go to the airport," said Bubblegum.

"Bad idea," said Mecha pulling up his finger-less gloves. "We didn't bring our ID cards. We couldn't bring our weapons. We might have to take a quarantined test. And it would take 10 AND A HALF HOURS to fly!"

"We could solve that."

"What do you mean, soft kitty?"

"This!"

At this, she got out a piece of bubblegum and started chewing. Within moments, she blew the biggest bubble I'd ever seen. She took it out of her mouth and the walls stuck together.

"Hop in!" said Bubblegum.

"Are you kidding me?" I said in disgust. "You want us to go on that?"

"Actually, IN it."

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea."

Bubblegum laughed. "You'll get used to it."

"**But how can we control that bubble to fly where we want to be?**" asked Wolfgang.

"Nessun problema!" chirped Mecha as he entered the bubble. "Leave that job to me!"

('Nessun problem' means 'no problem' in Italian)

"Come on," said Bubblegum as she took off her sneakers with spike-studded soles, put them in her backpack and squeezed into the bubble. "It couldn't get any worse. Just make sure to try not to break it."

I sighed. "Fine."

Wolfgang already went in. I went in last. I struggled to get in due to the stretchy and sticking walls, but I was able to get in without breaking it. The second I touched it, I didn't find it too bad though the bubble was sticky and I swore I felt some saliva.

"Hold on tight and no throwing up!" said Mecha. "And keep your fangs away from the bubble wall!"

His two long hair feathers started to spin like a helicopter. Surprisingly, it caused the bubble to fly up with the support of Mecha's spinning feathers.

In a second, I felt a wind of coldness. I looked around. Mecha was propelling the bubble, Bubblegum looking out the see-through walls of the bubble and Wolfgang looking worried.

I laid on my back seeing the dark sky with stars shining. Despite the cold air, I felt warm and sleepy. I closed my eyes.

* * *

**AN: And so, the worldwide adventure begins! To put it simple, it is Sonic Unleashed all over again.**

**The Daynight Pieces are some kind of gems I made up. They are used as back up weapons to stop Dark Gaia if he gets too strong. You might find the Daynight Pieces as something familiar in other media. These are a bit like the Chaos Emeralds or the Infinity Stones from Avengers: Infinity War/Endgame. Who knows what other powers they can do?**

**As for Wolfgang; he's a new character I made. He will help along Belt and his friends to find the pieces. There IS two more characters who will join them on their journey. Can you guess who it is? **

**That's all for today. If you like this story: follow or favorite this story for updates of the story. Make sure to review this chapter on what you thought of this story. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).**

**The question for this chapter: What are your first impressions of Wolfgang? What do you think of him? What role will he play as? And what are your guesses about him? Please put your answers in the reviews. **

**Until next time, stay tune and I will see you all in the next chapter next Monday!**


	4. Japan Justice

**AN: I'm back! Now, you are probably asking this question to me; "WHERE IS SONIC"?! Good news! He appears in this chapter! Read and find out!**

**Also, big thanks to teharrisonfox for following and favoring this story!**

* * *

**Chapter 4 – Japan Justice**

**Third Person's POV, 10/12 (at 9:35 am)**

It had been almost 10 hours. Belt, Bubblegum and Wolfgang were asleep while Mecha was still propelling the bubble, trying to stay awake. Using his tracking device, he found a great landing spot in Japan.

"We're here," he said.

Bubblegum woke up, the two other wolves slept soundly. The pink cat looked up and what she saw was astonishing. Of all the places, she wanted to visit Japan and finally, the day came. Her nose pressed against the walls of the bubble as it descended to the ground, her eyes and mouth widened up in surprise. They seemed to have arrived in some sort of forest. There was a large thin river with lily pads, bamboo sticks and cherry blossom trees on the earth, and there were tall mountains in the background with nice dark shades of purple. The sky was covered with white and grey clouds with a very cold breeze. The ecosystem looked pretty impressive.

She took out her shoes and pushed the spiked shoe soles onto the walls of the bubble.

POP!

* * *

**Belt's POV**

When I opened my eyes, my face seemed to be resting on grassy ground. I looked up to see a garden of cherry blossom trees.

"This is REALLY cool!" said Bubblegum excitedly. "The only pity is that Emerald isn't here to see this garden."

"You can say that again," I said standing up.

But at this, a cold breeze hit my fur. I quickly folded my arms and shivered.

"Geez," said Bubblegum rubbing her arms. "It's pretty cold here for this month."

I looked at Mecha. He didn't seem to be shivering. I started to see why he wore long-sleeved clothes. He snickered and gave me an 'I told you so' look. Wolfgang didn't seem to be bothered by the cold even though he was almost naked.

"I thought wolves like you can CHILL in this type of weather," said Mecha, referring to me.

"I've never been in such cold places before," I said.

"So where to go now?" said Bubblegum.

"**Well I sense that the Daynight piece will appear near Tokyo at night,**" said Wolfgang.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go!" said Bubblegum started to walk close to Mecha, following her.

I looked up. The sun was rising from the horizon. I saw Wolfgang trying to block his eyes from the sunlight.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"**I'm sorry,**" said Wolfgang. "**I don't like the sun. I can't stand brightness.**"

I took something out of my backpack.

"Here," I said throwing him a pair of sunglasses. "This might help."

Wearing those, Wolfgang didn't complain about the sun anymore. It was a nice walk through the cherry blossom forest. Despite the cold breeze, the sun was up, and warming my body. At one part, we came across a long river of water.

"OK," said Mecha. "This is where we cross."

"Well good thing we are wearing boots," I said.

"You mean you and Mecha," pointed out Bubblegum.

"Whatever."

I went first, crossing over the river. Because I was wearing boots, my feet weren't soaked. Next went Bubblegum.

"**Um…guys…**" said Wolfgang. "**We may have a problem…**"

"C'mon!" said Mecha with a smirk. "Dark Gaia monsters don't dissolve in water!"

He went next. Wolfgang just stood in his spot while the rest of us reached the other side of the river.

"What's the hold up?" said Bubblegum to Wolfgang.

The black wolf looked reluctant as he looked at the river.

"**Funny thing about me…**" he said nervously as he watched the river flowed. "**I'm afraid of…w…w…w…w...w...w**"

"Warts?" said Bubblegum getting frustrated.

"Words?" said Mecha.

"Wisps?"

"Wasp?"

"Don't ever say that me. I got stung by-"

"**NO!**" exclaimed Wolfgang. "**Water!**"

Silence.

Great. Another person who has aquaphobia.

"You got to be kidding me," grumbled Bubblegum.

"Can you fly over or something?" I said trying to be helpful.

"**I can try to,**" said Wolfgang.

He lifted up both his hands…and a purple magic aura surrounded them.

POOF!

They eventually died out.

"**Oh poop,**" said Wolfgang. "**I can't use my powers under sunlight. Must be in shadows or night sky to do so.**"

I sighed. There was only one thing to do.

I walked over the river again to reach Wolfgang.

"**What are you doing?**" he said.

"If you are afraid of walking ON water..." I asked. "...can you handle going OVER water?"

"**Huh?**"

Immediately, I picked him – bridal-style, to my embarrassment – and started carrying him.

"**What are you doing?!**" Wolfgang said as I walked over the water again.

To my surprise, he was light but I still struggled to carry him across the river. I feared that if he touched the water, he would FREAK OUT. But what was worse? When he looked down, he screamed and tried to hold onto my head.

"**STOP!**" I snarled as he rubbed my face.

Bubblegum just watched in slight confusion. Mecha smirked.

"I ship it," he said.

Finally, I made it to the other side and gently put Wolfgang down. I bent down and gasped for breath.

"**That…was…so…scary…**" said Wolfgang trembling.

I sighed and helped Wolfgang up. "I'm not going to carry you NEXT TIME."

We continued on our journey. It took a while to reach Tokyo. By the time we got there, it was already afternoon.

The city was alive with flashing colors. I had never seen so much blue and pink before. The smell was filled with Japanese candy and Ramen. Loud J-Pop music spread throughout the city.

"This is awesome," said Bubblegum peering through one of the shops. "It's pretty amazing to be here."

"I guess this place is OK," said Mecha staring at an anime show on one of the billboards. It was showing annoying creatures singing an annoying kiddy song.

On the other hand, Wolfgang didn't seem to like the place. He was closing his eyes and covering his ears. He was also hiding behind me.

"Any more problems?" I asked. After that sunlight and water incident, I was quite weary.

"**This is a very loud place,**" said Wolfgang. "**I prefer to be in a quieter environment.**"

"Cities like these could be loud."

"**Plus, I'm not sure of what people would think of me. I'm a demon and people would despise me.**"

"You just look like a normal wolf."

"**Not with these ruined gloves and shoes.**"

The tone of his gruff voice sounded sad. Bubblegum noticed.

"Maybe we could buy something for you," she suggested. "Some clothes should cover you up."

Wolfgang looked excited.

"**OK!**" he said. "**Let's go then!**"

We went off to find a good clothing shop. After checking some of them, we found one on the other side of the road. Just before I got onto the pavement, Mecha yelled out, "BELT! WATCH OUT!"

At this, a blue blur bumped into my face.

SMASH!

I hit the ground face-first. I felt somebody lying on me.

"Ow…" I groaned.

"Sorry!" said that person. Somehow, that voice sounded familiar to me. "Wait…is that you Clay?"

It hit me. I recognized who it was.

"Yes it's Clay," I said sarcastically. "Clay's OLDER BROTHER."

I picked myself up. I saw who slammed into me; Sonic – that well-known, famous, blue hedgehog with green eyes and wore white gloves and red and white shoes.

"Belt?" the blue hedgehog said.

"I thought you might know it was me," I said.

"Oops. It's just that your voice sounds similar to Clay's."

"Sonic!" said Bubblegum happy to see him.

"Sonic?" said Mecha surprised.

"Why if it isn't the Black Squad?" said Sonic. "It's been a long time since I last saw you."

"Yeah, dude." said Bubblegum.

I looked at Wolfgang. He looked at Sonic in shock, his mouth wide-opened.

"Who's that person?" Sonic said.

"That's Wolfgang," I said. "We found him lost underground."

Quickly snapping out, Wolfgang shook Sonic's hand.

"**U…uh…it's nice to meet you,**" said Wolfgang nervously.

Sonic smiled. Then he looked at Mecha.

"Oh, hi Mecha," said Sonic. "Sorry about what I told you..…you-know-what,"

"It's cool," said Mecha pulling up his finger-less gloves.

"Anyway what are you guys doing out here? Why are you here?"

"We will tell you all about it," I said.

We all headed into the huge clothing shop. Wolfgang started to marvel all the clothes in there.

"**There are so many clothes here!**" said Wolfgang, looking through a shelf of shirts.

"Hurry up," said Bubblegum. "Don't waste too much time in here."

Wolfgang nodded before running off, further in the shop.

Sonic said, "So we came here because yesterday, I saw some kind of dark streaks flying in the air. I went out to investigate it."

"Well we know about it," I said.

"What?" said Sonic surprised. "You know?!"

I took a deep breath and told him about the abridged version of the Dark Gaia invasion, how we needed to find the Daynight piece and our encountered with Wolfgang.

"So no wonder those shadows looked familiar," Sonic said once I finished. "I thought it would be resting in the world's core for the next hundred years."

"You saw Dark Gaia before?" said Mecha.

"Of course. Almost two years ago, I had to save the world from Dark Gaia. Even I got infected by it, transformed every night into some sort of…furry…thing…"

"You mean a WEREHOG?" said Mecha (un) helpfully.

"Yeah that. I was able to get rid of the curse and trapped Dark Gaia back where it belonged. But I didn't know that TYPE of mistake you did could bring it back."

I nodded guiltily. Bubblegum looked guilty as well.

"Did the rest of the Black Squad know?" asked Sonic. "Clay? Emerald? Sebastian? Anyone?"

"No," I said shooting Bubblegum a deadly look. "We kept it a secret from the rest of the guys. We might get into trouble if we told the mayor that we sneaked into the Forbidden cave."

"Oh well. That IS that. I haven't really get to know you Belt. So I guess we could get to know each other for the remainder of the time here."

"Did he have the same conversation with Clay?" I thought.

"What's your favorite color? What music do you like? What's your favorite food? Do you like long romantic beach walks? Do you have a crush…?"

Sonic was blabbing away and I wasn't able to get myself answering those questions. Finally, I was able to answer them.

"Well, I like the color red and I like to listen to acoustic music. That's all."

Sonic grinned and went over to me. "See, now we're able to know each other."

At this, he gave a back pat. In fact, so hard that my glasses fell off. I couldn't figure out everything in my sight.

"Where's my glasses?" I kept saying, touching the floor. "Where's my glasses?!"

DONK!

I hit a shelf and something fell onto my shoes.

"Here!" I said taking it.

I put my glasses back on…or at least I THOUGHT they were my glasses. Though my sight was blurry, I was able to make the image of a PINK UNDERWEAR.

"YAH!" I screamed quickly dropping it.

The rest of the guys laughed. Only Bubblegum stifled a nervous laugh. I wasn't amused. Finally, Sonic gave me my glasses.

"Here they are," he chuckled.

I put my glasses back on and gave him a straight face.

"How come you need to wear glasses?" Sonic asked.

"I need to wear them because I can't see straight," was my answer.

"I mean WHEN did you get them?"

"I have to get glasses because I shot myself in the eyes while playing with a toy laser when I was 9 years old," I said blushing red-pink.

"Well you look LIKE a nerd wearing those glasses," snickered Sonic.

I growled at him, but I remembered that sometimes he could be a nuisance.

"A-hem!" said Mecha pulling up his finger-less gloves. "I'm a nerd as well."

Just then, we heard Wolfgang.

"**Hey guys!**" he said. "**I found something!**"

"Huh?" said Bubblegum. "I wonder what he is wearing."

"Maybe something sporty?" said Sonic.

"Probably could be worse," said Mecha smirking.

But when Wolfgang showed himself, Mecha was right. It was worse. WAY worse.

My smile disappeared. Was it the fact that Wolfgang was wearing a HUGE TEAPOT AROUND HIS TORSO? Or was it the fact that he was wearing UNCHOPPED FISH AS GLOVES AND SHOES?

In fact, it was both.

"**This looks good on me, does it?**" Wolfgang asked smiling.

Sonic and Mecha burst into a helpless giggle. I couldn't help but laugh as well.

"What…are…you…wearing…?" said Bubblegum staring at Wolfgang in both shocked and disgusted.

* * *

**Exactly 18 seconds later…**

"We're sorry!" said Mecha and Bubblegum as the manager from a nearby restaurant took the teapot and fish away.

It turned out, Wolfgang found a secret entrance to that restaurant and mistaken it as a CLOTHES SHOP. He borrowed the teapot and fish thinking that they were clothes.

"Didn't you even know you were in the wrong shop?!" I exclaimed at Wolfgang looking at the size of the bump on his head.

"**Oops,**" said Wolfgang rubbing the bump on his head. "**Me bad.**"

"It's 'my bad'," snarled Bubblegum. "Not 'me bad'."

"Go find another set of clothes!" snapped Mecha.

And so, we waited for him changing in one of the changing stalls.

"**This?**" Wolfgang said coming out in a suit and tie.

"Fancy, but you might ruin it," said Mecha.

"**This?**" Wolfgang said coming out in a beach suit.

"Nah," said Sonic.

"**This?**" Wolfgang said coming out in a ballerina skirt.

"Really?!" I said.

"**This?**" Wolfgang said coming out in a bikini.

"THAT IS NOT FOR BOYS!" yelled Bubblegum.

And it kept rolling on. We wasted 30 minutes and Wolfgang took his merry time trying out different clothes. From bathers to skirts to puffy jackets. You name it. Every ridiculous clothes from the shop. He even wore a large anime dress that he couldn't go through the stall door! I and Bubblegum groaned every time the black wolf wore something ridiculous. Mecha's eye kept twitching due to Wolfgang wasting his time. Sonic looked amused by this.

We were waiting for Wolfgang to change again. Sonic was talking to Mecha about his last few adventures. Bubblegum nudged me.

"Belt," she said to me.

"Yes?" I said.

"I find Wolfgang a bit…odd."

"Yeah…I'm suspicious of him. He was created by the Dark Gaia. Who knows what he might do next?"

"I mean that I think I MET him before."

"What?"

"Well, I find Wolfgang…familiar when we first met him. I recognized his voice even though it's gruff. And, I recognized his naive personality. That fear of water. Also, I even knew the hairstyle he has."

"If you know him, why didn't you say anything?"

"I wanted too, but we might be talking to the wrong guy. I needed more information to see if we have met before. For now, I'll keep an eye on him in case more new details."

"Or if he is going to do anything bad."

Bubblegum shot me a look. "Why do you say that?"

"It's just that I don't trust him," I said uncomfortably.

"Look, he came from the Dark Gaia, but maybe there's some humanity in him. Maybe he's not evil."

"But I'm not sure if taking the words from the demon is a good idea. I see your point – he seemed to be uncomfortable with what was happening – I don't feel safe around him. I don't like it at all."

Bubblegum sighed. "I guess we have no choice."

I shrugged. Maybe Bubblegum was right. While waiting, I tried to distract myself by thinking of what Clay might be doing. He might be a pessimist, but I know that he would do other things. I know that he enjoyed hanging out with his close friends, taking a walk, drawing good pictures, sleeping around or maybe reading a book. But he preferred to be alone. Couldn't blame him for being a lone wolf.

But out of all of them, he concentrated on his DJ set. I remembered him playing with it for the first time. He got angry and frustrated when using it, but I was able to help him out. Later, he recorded me playing the guitar, made a loop of it and added special effects to it. It sounded really good, even I had to say so myself.

While nobody was looking, I took out something from my utility belt. It was a yin and yang necklace – except that it was red-orange and turquoise, not black and white. Clay made that for me. I brought it along because it was the one thing that made me feel happy when I was not with my brother.

"This is definitively the first AND last time I'm out on an adventure without Clay," I thought. "Or at least until he grows up. He's still 14 and I don't think he could handle it at that age."

Finally, Wolfgang found a nice set of clothes. He sported a vest that looked like it was made from jeans, blue sunglasses with black trims, black and blue gloves, and black and blue shoes.

"After a billion years, you finally found PROPER clothes," grumbled Mecha pulling up his finger-less gloves, his eye twitching.

"**These clothes look nice,**" said Wolfgang. "**They suit me very well.**"

"Well we should head out already," said Sonic. "Night time is almost here."

"**Can we stay here a bit longer? I would like to shop for more clothes.**"

"No," said Bubblegum and Mecha sternly.

"**Aw…**"

* * *

**9:59 pm**

The Daynight piece was located at a local park nearby. Luckily, there wasn't anyone there so we wouldn't be in trouble.

I looked up at the sky. The night sky filled the area. Stars sparkled and there were bright color waves.

"Clay and Emerald would like this," I thought.

"**This is beautiful**," said Wolfgang.

"Yeah," said Bubblegum. "I've never seen the sky so awake."

"Are we close to that…uh…Daynight…thingy?" said Sonic.

"**We're close,**" said Wolfgang.

A while later, Mecha told us to stay low.

"Why's that?" I asked crouching.

"Look," said Mecha pointing through the bushes.

What we saw was a large clearing. There was a large crack in the middle and many Dark Gaia minions surrounding it.

"Gee," said Bubblegum. "These guys had been terribly busy."

"Is there a way to get rid of them without being noticed?" said Mecha. "I don't think we're going to defeat that many of them. Not after what happened LAST NIGHT."

"Oh, come on," teased Sonic standing up. "You're just spoiling the fun. Watch this!"

He dashed over the bush – giving us away our hiding place – and attacked the minions. He curled up into a ball and launched himself at one of the minions. All hell broke loose as he got into a fight with the nasty critters.

"What are you waiting for?" said Bubblegum. "There's no use doing nothing now."

"I guess you're right," I said launching an energy ball at the minions.

We stood up. All of a sudden, Wolfgang started to run towards the enemies and kicked at one of the minions. What he did was stunning. Either this was how he was made or he trained for the past four years, he mastered all the karate moves. He was so quick and was able to defeat two minions using a roundhouse kick. The thing I found ironic was that he was killing his OWN kind.

"Awesome," said Bubblegum.

"Wow," I said.

At one point, Wolfgang stepped in the direction of the flying Sonic and kicked him. This caused the blue hedgehog – still curled up as a ball – to bang into the minions and changed direction when hitting into an object like a ball in a pinball machine. I, Bubblegum and Mecha quickly ran over to the crack getting rid of any enemies blocking our way.

"I never knew Wolfgang could be a tough warrior," I said shooting a fireball at one of the minions.

"I thought that Wolfgang wouldn't be much of a 'sensei'," said Bubblegum. "But he wasn't that bad. Probably better than Mecha."

"Hey!" snapped Mecha.

I smiled. "Wolfgang isn't such a bad person," I thought. "He's fighting against his kind, but I still doubt that he's good. But should I tell him how I thought of him or…"

I was cut off when Sonic smashed into me. The next thing I knew was my glasses flying out from my eyes and I fell into that stupid crack again.

* * *

**Third Person's POV**

As a result, Belt's glasses flew off and plopped onto ONE OF THE DARK GAIA MINIONS.

"That critter is WEARING them!" said Bubblegum and Mecha in disgust.

"Huh?" said Wolfgang staring at the aimless minion wearing Belt's glasses. "Belt got smaller?"

"WRONG!" said Sonic.

The minion with Belt's glasses waddled away from the crack – not familiar with wearing the glasses.

"Belt!" said Wolfgang to the minion. "The crack's this way!"

"The real one just fell into that crack, you idiot!" snarled Bubblegum striking a line of minions. "You think Belt is ONLY Belt with glasses?!"

* * *

**Belt's POV**

Ow. Ow. Ow.

This again.

I constantly hit every rock side as I fell through the crack and landed onto the ground heavily.

"Me and my broken body…" I grumbled.

TICK!

I felt my glasses landed onto my head. Slowly, I got up and put them back on. That was when Sonic landed beside me.

"Thanks a lot," I said.

"No problem!" said Sonic. "You should have seen what happened back up there. One of the critters was wearing YOUR glasses."

I rolled my eyes.

"Alright," said Bubblegum through my earpiece and Sonic's earpiece – I gave one to him. "We located the Daynight piece. Go to the left than proceed straight and turn right where there will be a large clearing. That's where that crystal piece is."

"Got it," said Sonic.

I looked to the left seeing an entrance. It was connected to a tunnel. There was something strange. There was a light coming from the right of the tunnel.

"What's that?" said Sonic.

"I'm not sure," I said.

"Seems like someone already beat us to it."

We followed the strange light. It seemed to be going to the Daynight piece. We peered over the wall to see.

We saw the Daynight piece on a tall rock pillar. And in front of it was the most unexpected thing. It seemed to be a small reddish-purple chihuahua with a whip-shaped hair, tiny wings and wore a green bauble necklace.

"What is THAT?" I whispered confused.

Sonic didn't reply. He came up to the creature. I hid around the wall to avoid attention. I expected another fight but…

"Chip!" said Sonic. "Hadn't seen you in a long time!"

That small creature yelped, but when it saw Sonic, it smiled.

"Sonic!" said the creature in a young male voice. "It's you."

I heard laughter. I was surprised. Then it dawned on me; did Sonic meet THAT creature before?

It could be true. Sonic had been on many adventures to unknown locations with unknown creatures. Maybe he met that creature before.

I peeped over the wall seeing that…thing hugging Sonic. The latter was laughing happily. I felt my glasses nearly falling off.

"Who is that there?" said the creature.

"Oh," said Sonic. "That's Belt the Light Wolf. He's a soldier from the Resistance. Belt, this is Chip, also known as the Light Gaia."

A wave of shock went through my head. That thing? The Light Gaia? I couldn't believe it.

I showed myself. Chip – that weird small chihuahua – seemed to be surprised of my appearance.

"So there's another Mr Monster Guy?" he said.

"What?" I said. "Monster?"

"Well, you have fangs."

"I'm a wolf. That's how I am."

"So Chip," said Sonic. "How come you're here?"

"Well, I noticed that the Dark Gaia had been released, another 'time of awakening' was coming. So I tried to stop Dark Gaia, but it was out of control. I couldn't stop him. I need to find those Daynight pieces to end it once and for all before it can reign."

"I already found one of the pieces," I said taking one out from my pocket.

Instantly, the piece in my hand flew out. Like a magnet, it flew toward the second piece and glued itself to it.

"Two down, four more to go," said Sonic smiling before looking at Chip. "I guess we need your help, Chip."

Chip beamed with happiness. The little creature looked at me and said, "And oh, it's nice to meet you."

I smiled in reply. Still, I was not sure if Chip was REALLY the Light Gaia.

* * *

**Third Person's POV**

Meanwhile on the surface, Bubblegum, Mecha and Wolfgang waited for Sonic and Belt.

Wolfgang noticed Mecha pulling up his gloves again.

"**Hey Mecha,**" said Wolfgang. "**Why do you keep pulling up your gloves?**"

"Damare," snapped Mecha.

('Damare' means 'shut up' in Japanese)

Wolfgang looked confused. "**Huh?**"

"Just be quiet," said Mecha quickly.

Wolfgang didn't show any sign of disturbance. Bubblegum glanced at the turquoise bird.

"You still don't want to talk about it?" wondered Bubblegum.

"People ruffle my feathers about that," said Mecha. "So please don't talk to me about this habit I got into."

Bubblegum had an idea.

"Can I try your Splash Flood?" asked Bubblegum.

"Be careful with it," said Mecha giving her the bazooka. "It's pretty heavy."

Bubblegum took the Splash Flood, held onto the handle, slung it on her shoulder and looked through the aiming scope.

"This…is…indeed…heavy…" gasped Bubblegum almost falling down.

There was a large groan coming from the crack.

"**What is that?**" said Wolfgang.

"Probably that's another beast," said Bubblegum pointing the bazooka at the crack.

"Get ready," said Mecha.

She looked through the aiming scope, waiting for her target. She heard more groaning from the crack…and then, the target came out.

Chip popped his head out of the crack with a chocolate bar in his hand.

"Do you want some chocolate?" asked Chip cheerfully.

Bubblegum didn't realize it was only a small creature.

"I'm not that hungry," said Bubblegum coldly as she pressed the trigger.

* * *

**Belt's POV**

Sonic and I heard a whoosh of water. Looking up, we saw Chip being splashed by a wave of turquoise water. This helped Chip to get out of the crack.

"Oh no," I thought realizing what that meant.

Silence.

"You're not one of the Dark Gaia minions?" said Bubblegum bemused.

"You idiot!" snapped Mecha.

Chip groaned. I heard Bubblegum running to Chip.

"Oh my gosh!" exclaimed Bubblegum. "Are you OK? I'm sorry!"

"It's…O…K…" groaned Chip.

Sonic and I climbed out of the crack.

"**You got the piece?**" asked Wolfgang.

"We got it and it stuck itself to the other piece," I said showing the Daynight pieces, bonded up as an incomplete diamond.

As Chip flew upwards – feeling wet and dizzy – Sonic went to him.

"You're OK, bud?" he asked.

"Uh…" said Bubblegum. "Who – and what – is that?"

"Oh, this is Chip. I met him on one of my adventures a few years ago. Funny thing; he's the Light Gaia."

Both Bubblegum and Mecha were dumbfounded. I could tell that they had the same thought as when I first saw Chip. It was silence. Well, except for a plane that flew in the background.

…

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Mecha laughed out loudly. Bubblegum tried not to snicker so much. Chip looked confused.

"What's so funny?" asked Chip.

"Sorry," chuckled Bubblegum between snickers. "It just that...YOU'RE the Light Gaia?"

"He actually is," said Mecha pulling himself together. "I saw him in a book and the image of Light Gaia is EXACTLY like Chip. Nice to meet you."

Mecha – still shaking from snickering so hard – shook his hand with Chip.

"Nice to meet you, bird," said Chip.

"The name's Mecha," said Mecha. "And the cat is Bubblegum. The black wolf is Wolfgang."

When Chip looked at Wolfgang, he seemed surprised.

"Hey! I saw you before," said Chip.

"**W…what do you mean?**" said Wolfgang looking confused.

"Wait, you KNOW him before?" asked Bubblegum.

"Well 4 years ago," explained Chip. "I found him roaming around underground. He tried to attack me, but I kind of let out some of my light energy to him. This caused…uh…'Wolfgang' to become unconscious for a while. I'm guessing the white stripes on his arms were caused by my powers."

The black wolf looked at the white stripes on his arms.

"So he's actually a hybrid of the Dark Gaia and Light Gaia?" said Sonic.

Chip nodded. "He must have a few light powers in him which is why he has a free mind and isn't controlled by the Dark Gaia."

It seemed to make sense, but I still felt like I couldn't FULLY trust Wolfgang yet. I just didn't know what to say OR think about this.

"So where next?" I asked.

"**The next one is in England,**" said Wolfgang. "**It's in a-**"

Before Wolfgang even finished, we were surrounded by a light green aura. It turns out, it came from Chip.

"I'll help you guys get to England," said Chip confidently. "Hold on."

"WAIT!" said Bubblegum. "WE HAVEN'T LOCATE WHERE IT-"

But it was too late. In a second, Chip used his light powers to make us 'fly' up and away.

* * *

**AN: Welp...you guys are screwed.**

**It is quite surprising that Wolfgang is partly made from Light Gaia. You see, all Dark Gaia minion are made from dark shadows who have evil intentions. For Wolfgang - because he was given some energy from the Light Gaia - he was able to have a mind and a good will which is why he isn't hostile. **

**I got the idea of when Belt had to carry Wolfgang across a river from this Youtube Video called Resident Enis 2. Also, the idea of Wolfgang wearing ridiculous comes from the Splatoon Manga. Ask him how he was able to fit his whole body in that teapot.**

**Hmm...Bubblegum seem to find Wolfgang...familiar. I wonder what that is all about...**

**That's all for today. If you like this story: follow or favorite this story for updates of the story. Make sure to review this chapter on what you thought of this story. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).**

**The question for this chapter: Are you happy that Sonic and Chip get to help Belt and his friends on their journey? Please put your answers in the reviews.**

**Until next time, see you all in the next chapter next Monday!**


	5. The Wolves of London

**AN: I'm back! Here's the next chapter for this story!**

* * *

**Chapter 5 – The Wolves of London**

Within moments, we flew through the air. Finally, I hit my head on a tall, dark tree and collapsed onto the ground.

"…is…" said Bubblegum finishing her sentence.

"That was a nice flight," said Sonic getting up along with Chip and Wolfgang.

Meanwhile, Mecha went soaring through the air, hitting a nearby tree. When he fell to the ground, a large branch fell onto his head.

CLONK!

"Ow!" snapped Mecha.

"Holy CRUD!" snarled Bubblegum. "Now we are in the middle of nowhere.

"Not really," said Mecha looking at his tracking device. "We're somewhere in Europe and the signal for the third Daynight piece is close."

I looked around. It wasn't that much. We were in a large forest. Dawn was still far away. As if on cue, thunderstruck the sky. Rain started to pour down.

"Great," said Sonic in disgust. "Rain."

Bubblegum groaned. "We're gonna have to find shelter for tonight."

"What about that house over there?" asked Sonic pointing to one.

That house was only a few meters away from us. It seemed to be abandoned and was in a broken state. The paint was scraped off showing the wooden planks that held the house. It seemed that the inside of the house was dark with no light. The only thing that stood out from it was a fancy-looking door with a golden knob on it.

As far as I could tell, no one – except Sonic – wanted to go in there.

"No," said Chip nervously. "Bad idea."

At this, a lightning bolt struck down a tree far away. This caused the bottom of the tree broke and landed on the ground with a sickening crunch.

"Well it's a bad idea to stay out here you know," said Sonic matter-of-factly.

"I could build a shelter for all of you," I offered.

"That's IF you could build one in CRAPPY weather," said Mecha grimly.

I shrugged. "I wouldn't worry about it. I once lived in the woods and built a tree-house by myself. I'm sure that any rainfall – even one this big – won't stop me."

"Oh yeah? How do you explain that?"

BOOM!

A lightning bolt struck down again, nearly hitting us.

"OK," said Bubblegum. "Let's just get inside the house, NOW."

Chip was about to protest, but Sonic grabbed his hand and pulled him inside. We all got into the house. Just in time. I felt a lightning bolt brushing the tip of my tail as I got in

* * *

"**This house looks nice,**" said Wolfgang as Sonic turned on a torch. "**I wonder if anyone still lives here.**"

"You called this hunk of junk nice?" said Bubblegum.

"You got to admit," said Sonic. "It IS a nice house. Maybe some of the Dark Gaia minions are living here."

"I wouldn't want to find out," I said.

The room we entered had an eerie atmosphere. There were coaches, chairs and furniture covered partly in white sheets. Most of them were covered with cobwebs. The walls were black with scratches on them. A sound filled the air joining the eerie and dark atmosphere.

OHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

"What was that?" said Chip clinging onto Sonic's arm.

"Probably some ghosts," chuckled Sonic unhelpfully.

I gave the blue hedgehog a glare. I could hear Bubblegum inhaling sharply. Chip was trembling. Both Mecha and Wolfgang were looking around, doubtfully.

"Relax!" said Sonic. "If a ghost comes to me, I'll send them back to their graves."

Mecha grumbled something inaudible; possibly something offensive about this place.

"**Guys,**" said Wolfgang all of a sudden. "**Did you guys see that?**"

"See what?" I said.

Wolfgang pointed to a clock on the left wall.

"What about it?" I said impatiently.

"**I saw a face in that clock,**" said Wolfgang.

Chip turned pale.

Bubblegum gulped.

I just rolled my eyes.

Giving Wolfgang a look, Sonic went over to the clock to take a look. But all he saw was an old broken clock hanging on the wall in a tilted angle.

"Huh," said Sonic shaking his head. "There's nothing there. You don't need to worry about-"

But when he said 'nothing', some face appeared on the clock before…coming out. It was a ghost.

What happened next was kind of a blur for me. I could only remember hearing ghosts laughing, people yelling and screaming, and hands grabbing my knees. And then, it was a mad run through the dark hallways. Don't ask me how, but I found myself with Bubblegum and we hid in a random room.

Once I slammed the door and barricaded it with a chair, we took deep breaths.

"Where are the others?" I asked Bubblegum.

"I don't know," she said. "I guess that we're separated from them,"

"I hope they're OK,"

"Yeah right, they're OK. Sonic could take on any challenge and survive. And Mecha; he already gone through training and surviving in the woods."

I looked around. We were in a room that didn't look old and dark. There was a large table with food on it. In the middle was a large white cake with red strawberry syrup on it.

I heard a stressed-out Bubblegum wincing.

"This is bad. This is bad. This is bad," she kept whispering.

"Bubblegum," I said. "Calm down. This is probably just somebody doing something stupid in this house."

Bubblegum laid back in the front of the table. "As far as I know, this house is HAUNTED and we don't know where the Daynight piece is."

"Don't worry," I said trying to lighten the mood. "We will find it. Everything will be alright soon."

"No," said Bubblegum grimly. "Everything isn't alright now."

I was getting sick of feeling hopeless, but I wondered if she was right. As if on cue, the cake behind Bubblegum started to…expand. Bubblegum didn't notice it since her back was facing that cake.

"Um," I said. "Bubblegum…"

"What?" she said.

Before I could talk – or point to the cake – the cake exploded, letting out a geyser of cake batter and red icing. It hit Bubblegum on the head causing her to fall onto the ground. And there in the cake's position was a ghost.

BWAHAHAHAHA!

I couldn't help but let out a girly scream. Out of the horror movies I saw, this one was the scariest of all. And definitively the ugliest.

With that, Bubblegum was out cold. I raised my Wispon and let out a fireball. But it had little effect. The fireball went through the ghost.

Oh...I forgot. I came to the horrible fact that the ghost was INVINCIBLE!

All of a sudden, another ghost appeared. And another one. Then a fourth. A fifth. A sixth. A seventh.

There were too many of them.

I kept on firing fireballs at the ghosts, but they just went through their transparent bodies. The fireballs unfortunately came in contact with the walls causing them to burn. My Wispon was useless. I found myself being lifted into the air and thrown from one ghost to another as if I was some kind of rag doll.

And then it hit me. You couldn't defeat ghosts using PHYSICAL action. You needed to defeat them with FORCE. I remembered Emerald watching a show indicating that removal of ghosts is best achieved by activation of a wet and dry suction unit.

And that was what I needed to do.

When the ghosts let go of me, I quickly stood up and ran to Bubblegum. Taking her Void Wispon, I pointed it at the ghosts and press the trigger. A black hole appeared in front of the mouth.

SLURP!

The ghosts screamed. Or at least made a noise that might have passed through the Wispon's roar. They got sucked in as if the Wispon was a vacuum cleaner. Just as the ghosts disappeared through the nozzle, I saw a sparkling green piece flying towards me.

"Could it be?" I thought.

I quickly grabbed it before it was sucked into the black hold. I looked at it. It was another Daynight piece! That ghost had it the whole time!

I looked up to see the walls on fire. Noting that it would burn the whole house down, I spotted a nearby bucket of water and used it to get rid of the flames. They went out easily.

As I smiled, I looked at Bubblegum who got up. She touched the red cake batter on her head…and she nearly fainted.

I quickly grabbed her before she fell.

"O…oh my gosh…" Bubblegum said, shocked. "I…I was…shot…"

"No, you weren't shot," I said.

I took a piece of the gooey slop from Bubblegum's head and showed it to her. "It's just cake."

She looked dumbfounded.

"Oh…" said Bubblegum trying to laugh it off. "I…I know that. It's just a joke."

I laughed dryly. "You know what's funny. Those ghosts had the Daynight piece the WHOLE time."

I showed Bubblegum the third piece. I took the other diamond piece from my vest and the third piece stuck itself onto the nearly completed diamond.

"Three down, three to go," said Bubblegum.

* * *

**Third Person's POV**

"It's safe here," said Mecha as he and the others entered a room. "Hopefully, we won't get any more surprises."

Mecha, Sonic, Chip and Wolfgang were able to take refuge in the living room. It was a large room with a rough and neat carpet, a fireplace, a lot of coaches all over the place and tall shelves of books.

"Wow!" said Chip amazed. "This is like a king's castle."

"Except that it isn't as fancy as how a king's room should be," joked Sonic.

Wolfgang sighed and thrown himself on one of the coaches. He looked at his arms, the white stripes shining brightly.

"So I'm part of Light Gaia and Dark Gaia, huh," thought Wolfgang.

He looked up seeing Mecha barricading the door with a few wooden planks.

"I got to say," thought Wolfgang sadly. "I feel like I have seen that bird before. But I can't remember. Do I?"

He tried to, but all he could think of from the beginning was awaking in that same underground cave. It was worthless.

"I can't…"

Putting up the last wooden plank, Mecha laid back on the door, sighing in relief.

"I like to see those monsters break through that door," said Mecha proudly.

And then, he pulled up his gloves again.

"Um…Mecha…" said Chip flying towards Mecha. "Why do you keep pulling up your gloves?"

"Oh," said Mecha quickly putting his hands behind his back. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Well you kept pulling up your gloves when I saw you," said Sonic matter-of-factly. "When I met you, you sometimes talk in different languages. And now this. You're going through different habits now."

"Let me see," said Chip coming closer.

"Hey!" snapped Mecha. "Não se atreva!"

('Não se atreva' means 'Don't you dare' in Portuguese)

But Sonic already came up and grabbed Mecha's right hand. Then he ripped off his glove revealing something around Mecha's wrist; a thick brown stripe.

"What..is…that?!" exclaimed Chip seeing the large stripe on Mecha's wrist.

"Are those burns?" said Sonic in concern. "Scars?"

Mecha sighed. It's time to tell the truth. "No. They are just natural. I got them at a young age."

He took off his left glove revealing to have another brown stripe on that wrist. Sonic looked surprised. He had never seen those before.

"Why are you so scared of showing them?" wondered Chip.

"I wasn't scared," said Mecha his voice breaking. "These brown stripes…this shows that I'm a hybrid; I'm a blue jay, but I'm a bit of a golden eagle. My father was a golden eagle...but I've never seen him before because my parents divorced before I was born…and my…my mother always took her anger on me...seeing those deviations I had on my wrists reminds me of my parents' divorce…and how much of a mistake I was…and I hate it...I tried not to think about them; hearing my parents argued, my mum used me as a chew toy – calling those stripes on my hands a MISTAKE in the family – and not giving me love or a thank-you note for being around! I…The only thing I wish for is to see my father for once in my life…"

"Mecha…you told me this before, but…" said Sonic. "…you never showed me those stripes. Does anyone else back at your home know about this now?"

"Only a few people, but I…I hate letting myself and anyone else seeing those deviations."

At this, he started to break down. He looked down - hugging himself - almost in a position that made him looked like he was about to puke. Tears started to form in his eyes.

"I'm…I'm a mistake," croaked out Mecha.

A sympathetic Sonic placed his hand onto the bird's shoulder. "I wouldn't be worried about those stripes on your wrists. Wherever your father is, I think he might have heard of you because of your role during the Infinite War. He might come and find you. He would be proud of you. And don't worry about what your mum said to you. You're just letting yourself down by hearing her."

Mecha smiled weakly as he put back on his fingerless gloves, wiping his tears away. "J-just please don't tell anybody else. Yet."

The silence was broken when a growl was heard. Something about it was…satanic.

Sonic and Chip turned around. Wolfgang was growling and holding onto his head in pain.

"Wolfgang?" said Sonic in concern.

When the black wolf looked up, his eyes weren't red. They were purple. GLOWING purple. Something was wrong. Very wrong. And before anyone could do anything, Wolfgang attacked.

He nearly scratched Sonic, Mecha and Chip. but the three quickly got out of the way. Wolfgang left a deep scratch on the wooden planks that blocked the door.

"Wolfgang!" said Sonic. "What are you doing?"

The black wolf took no concern. His mind was clouded with pure darkness and his eyes were blinded by the disturbing shadows. He let another roar and pounced on his prey.

But the hedgehog was quick; Sonic zoomed to the other side at the same time Wolfgang nearly mauled him, only to crash into a pile of wooden boxes.

Sonic noticed Mecha was trembling. Wolfgang lunged at Sonic for another kill but Sonic was able to get out of the way with his speed.

CRASH!

The blue hedgehog looked at Mecha again.

"What's wrong with him?" he thought.

At this, Wolfgang lunged for another kill – this time successful. With Wolfgang on top of Sonic, there was no way for the blue hedgehog to escape. The black wolf raised his hand preparing to tear the face off.

KATWACK!

When Sonic opened his eyes, he saw Wolfgang lying on the floor unconscious. He looked up seeing Mecha heavily breathing, his hands curled into fists.

Seeing the look in his eyes, Sonic realised the truth; Mecha was afraid of hurting his friends. Sure he might play tough, but what happened was business. REAL business. Mecha wouldn't want to hurt anyone who he cared for. No wonder why he hesitated when fighting Infinite.

Mecha stared at the knock-out Wolfgang in horror and despair.

"It's OK, Mecha," said Sonic as he got up. "You know you have to."

Mecha nodded sadly.

"Is it over yet?" said Chip nervously coming out from a flower vase.

"I'm not sure," said Mecha. "He might wake and go psycho again. We should strap him to a chair and tie him up until we find out why he's acting like that."

Sonic pulled Wolfgang up and placed him on a wooden chair. However, the black wolf stirred.

"He's waking up!" exclaimed Chip. "Find a rope!"

Sonic and Chip scrambled to find a rope in the room.

"We can't find one!" said Sonic.

"Which means…" said Chip before looking at Mecha's long hair feathers.

Mecha's face turned pale. He just stared at them dumbly.

"No WAY!" snapped the bird. "Don't you even think about it!"

"Than any other ideas, Agent P?" said Sonic.

Wolfgang groaned. He was about to wake up

"I'm NOT doing it," said Mecha. "And that's FINAL!"

* * *

**Belt's POV**

Bubblegum and I reached a wooden door at the end of a hallway.

"Do you think the others might be in there?" Bubblegum asked.

"I'm not sure," I said.

At this, yelling and thumping could be heard.

"Crud," I cursed.

"Get out your weapon," said Bubblegum raising her Wispon.

I got out my sword with my left hand. I raised my right hand – glowing in power – and punched at the door making a huge hole. I reached for the doorknob, unlocked it and kicked the door opened. We came in.

"STAND DOWN AND…huh?"

What we saw was unexpected. We saw Wolfgang – passed out – on a chair. But the most unexpected thing was that Mecha was sitting behind the chair, with his hair feathers tied around Wolfgang.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Sorry," said Sonic. "Wolfgang went crazy, so we tied him up."

"And if he wakes up and plucks my feathers, I will KILL you!" snapped Mecha.

Bubblegum looked at Wolfgang.

"OK...just what the heck REALLY happened?" she asked.

"Just a few minutes ago, his eyes turned purple," explained Chip. "He went feral and tried to kill us. Mecha was able to knock him out, but we weren't sure if he would attack again."

I heard Wolfgang groaning.

"He's coming to," Bubblegum said. "Will he attack again?"

I took out my Wispon; getting ready to hit Wolfgang on the head in case he attacked. When he opened his eyes, they seemed normal. His eyes were still red.

"**Ow…**" he groaned. "**...W…what's going on?**"

I lowered my Wispon. He didn't seem to feral at this moment, so it was probably alright.

"You're OK?" asked Sonic.

"**Not really…**" said Wolfgang. "**… I have a headache now...and before that…I…I remember seeing some dark things in f-**"

All of a sudden, his eyes turn glowing purple. He started to growl and started to shake; trying to break free from the ropes.

Quickly, I banged my Wispon onto Wolfgang's head. He focused on the pain and groaned. He closed his eyes and opened them again. His eyes were back to red.

"**Ow…**" he said. "**…What's…going on…?**"

"I think this must be the Dark Gaia's doing," said Chip.

"What?" I said.

"Well he's made from Dark Gaia, right? So probably, there was some darkness that's partly clouding your mind. When the Dark Gaia took control of you, you would go hostile; like the other minions of Dark Gaia."

Wolfgang was shocked upon hearing this. "**Is there a way I could break free from the control of the Dark Gaia?**"

"Unfortunately," said Chip. "I don't think you can. I could try giving you some of the light energy, but since you're mostly made from darkness, you wouldn't be able to survive if my power overpowers yours."

Upon hearing this, Wolfgang looked upset. "**I…I get it. I will just go.**"

"No," said Sonic. "We are all on the same team together."

"**But I'm not good for any of you, right?**"

His tone was bitter. He seemed worried that the Dark Gaia could control him at any time. As he was made by that demon, he couldn't do anything to stop it. Even though I didn't really trust him, he was kind to me so I could tell that he didn't want to hurt us. I remembered how scared he was to show himself when I first met him and how hesitant of the first few things he saw on the surface. Maybe, he wasn't bad after all; he was struggling under the control of the Dark Gaia.

I put my hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry," I said. "If there are any problems, I will help."

"So will I," said Bubblegum.

"So will I," said Sonic smiling.

"So will I," said Chip.

Wolfgang smiled. "**T…thank you guys.**"

"Can someone please untie my feathers?" said Mecha a bit desperately.

"Oh," said Sonic coming over to Mecha. "Sorry, dude. Forgot about you."

As Sonic untied Mecha's feathers that tied around Wolfgang, the latter spoke.

"I will help you too if there are any problems," Mecha said.

"**Thank you,**" said Wolfgang as he got up from his seat.

I gave him a quick hug. He looked a bit confused when I did that.

"**What did you do that far?**" he said.

"I just thought you need one," I said.

* * *

I listened to the tune as I strummed the strings of the guitar. I found it relaxing to play a bit. I would be happier if Clay would come along. I still regret not telling Clay about what was happening. He would be upset that I went missing.

I took out the necklace that he made, from my utility belt. I looked at it and felt satisfied. Even though I felt sad about leaving my brother, I felt happy about having the necklace. I decided to wear it. I put it around my neck and let it rest on my chest.

For a sudden, my ears twitched. I heard something…then I remembered. Wolfgang said that he needed to have some time alone. He must have climbed onto the roof to howl at the moon. I couldn't blame him for doing that. Wolves like us could howl at times. I used to howl to relieve stress, but not these days.

I decided to go see him. I knew that he preferred to be alone, but I felt as if he needed company; just like how I took care of Clay when he was upset or stressed.

It took me a while to get to the rooftop, but I found a ladder and I used it to get to the top of the house. I found Wolfgang sitting near the edge, raising his head to the full moon in the sky and letting out a loud howl. It sounded sad and a bit emotional.

Deciding to let him know that I was here, I howled. Wolfgang heard me as he jumped a bit and looked behind. I chuckled a bit.

"**What…what are you doing here?**" he asked.

"I heard your howling," I said coming up to him. "I decided to join you."

I sat down next to him. He seemed uncomfortable.

"**I'm OK,**" Wolfgang said. "**I'm used to this loneliness. Why are you doing this though?**"

"Well," I said. "I have a younger brother. His name is Clay. He's the only family I have since my parents were killed in an accident. He seemed to be nervous when meeting new people and found it hard when in difficult situations. I always with him when he needed help. I didn't want him to struggle on his own, so I think the best for him is to give him some support. And that's why I decided to come up here. I noticed that you are a loner and don't want anyone's attention. You seemed sad at times and maybe I can help you with your problems. You know I would have made that promise to you, right?"

Wolfgang looked at me surprised. He stuttered something. "**I…I…I am just a loner the whole time…I never have someone to look at…I was afraid that if I show myself, I…I…I may be a burden to everyone. You know that I'm a bit of a demon, but I didn't choose to be one in the first place…**"

He seemed to have tears in his eyes. I placed my hand on his shoulder and smiled at him.

"**T…thanks for letting me join your friends and you,**" he said. "**It's nice to finally be with someone.**"

"You're welcome," I said.

Wolfgang looked at my rings. "**Say, I noticed that you have some kind of power from your rings. What are they?**"

"Oh, these?" I said showing my glowing rings around my wrists. "They are special rings. These ones can use light power and that gives the title the 'Light Wolf'. I found them when I was little."

"**They look nice,**" said Wolfgang.

Suddenly, Wolfgang held onto his head in pain. He started groaning.

"Oh no," I thought. "Not again."

The black wolf started to growl and open his eyes revealing to be glowing purple, but I quickly did something. I placed my hand onto his forehand and growled softly.

"**Grrrr…**" I growled as my eyes started to glow.

This was a special technique that I learnt; like a wolf, I could sooth a canine's temper in somewhat a hypnotising way. It sometimes worked, as I used it to cool Clay down whenever he got upset.

"Calm down now," I said slowly. "Don't feel tense. Take a deep breath and let it go."

I could see that Wolfgang started to calm down. He was taking slow breaths and finally, his eyes turned back to red.

"**W…what the…**" he said confused and concerned. "**…did I…**"

"Don't consider it too deeply," I said. "I was able to calm you down even before you attacked."

Wolfgang winced. "**Do you think I would go feral again?**"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I'll make sure that you won't hurt anyone again. Is that OK?"

Wolfgang nodded. I smiled. I finally knew that I could trust him. Maybe there must be a way to make him free of the Dark Gaia's control. I looked at the full moon. It was so bright. It was a long time since I saw one this big.

"Don't worry Wolfgang," I thought. "I will help you. Don't worry, Clay – my dear brother. I will come back as soon as possible."

Finally, Wolfgang sighed happily. "**I'm feeling better now. Let's get back to the others.**"

He stood up and started to walk.

"Uh…" I said. "Wolfgang? You know that you're walking forward OVER the edge of the roof, right?"

Wolfgang stopped. He looked down. Turned out, he walked forward instead of turning around and went through the roof hole.

He was standing on nothing.

ABSOLUTELY nothing.

And below him – about a two-storey house high – was the ground.

And he fell down.

"**CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…**"

**\- PLEASE STAND BY AS WE ARE GOING THROUGH SOME TECHNICAL ISSUES -**

* * *

**AN: My, my, my, Wolfgang. Don't worry! He'll be JUST fine.**

**As you may all know, this chapter was inspired by Sonic - Night of the Werehog. I watched that short film when I was little so I thought it would be a good idea to write about the gang staying at a haunted house for the night...but I wish that I made more parts of Chip freaking out.**

**For those wondering, Mecha had those stripes around his wrist ever since he was born. I just came up with that idea as I didn't mention it in Dark Wolf Begins. Other than becoming obsessed with fame, I wanted to give him a bit of an emotional reason why he was a bully before. After his parents split up, his mother insulted him out of anger AND for the stripes on his wrist, scarring Mecha ****permanently. This caused Mecha to become a bully...until the events of Dark Wolf Begins. Hopefully, I could flesh out Mecha's backstory more in the upcoming rewrite.**

**That's all for today. If you like this story: follow or favorite this story for updates of the story. Make sure to review this chapter on what you thought of this story. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).**

**Until next time, see you all in the next chapter next Monday!**


	6. Watch Out for Egyptian Traps

**AN: I'm back! Here's the next chapter for this story!**

* * *

**Chapter 6 – Watch Out for Egyptian Traps**

**Belt's POV, 11/12 (at 8:30 am)**

When I woke up, it was light. I growled softly as the sunlight blinded me a bit. I put on my glasses and saw Bubblegum looking at me.

"Finally," she said. "You're awake."

I yawned and stood up from the coach I was lying on. I saw Mecha, Sonic, Wolfgang and Chip all up, ready to go.

"So where do we need to next?" asked Mecha.

"**I believe the next Daynight piece is in Egypt,**" said Wolfgang. "**I found one in an underground tombs, but I must have left it there. It must be still existing.**"

"But how come you left it there?" I asked.

Wolfgang looked at me blankly. "**I'm not sure. All I remember was that I found the piece and the next thing I knew was that I was somewhere else.**"

"Probably you went feral at that time," said Bubblegum.

"We should get going," said Chip. "We don't know what Dark Gaia is probably doing right now so we should hurry."

"OK then," said Sonic heading to the door. "Let's get out of this place."

When he opened it, we saw the hallway filled with ghosts. Chip screamed. We saw one of the biggest ghosts was coming towards Sonic…but he quickly slammed the door in front of its face.

"Or we could just find another exit," he said.

Bubblegum sighed. "Let's just take the windows."

She went to one of the windows and opened it up. One by one, we got out.

"Can we be a bit choosier on where we are going to stay for the next evening?" said Mecha.

"Maybe we can," said Sonic. "Or possibly find another haunted house to rest in."

"Please no" said Chip.

* * *

**9:56 am**

Thanks to Chip's power of levitation, we were able to get to Egypt. I looked around as we entered the new country; one of the hottest lands on Earth. There was almost nothing, but large dunes of sand and dried-up shrubs. The sky was pure blue with the glaring shining sun. The air was rash, humid and hot. The sun warmed up the entire place making it almost felt like hell.

"Geez," I said as we landed. "It's pretty warm here."

"At least it isn't that hot," said Bubblegum. "It's just a bit humid here."

"Wolfgang," asked Sonic. "Now that we are here, do you know where the tomb is?"

"**Not really,**" said Wolfgang. "**I was underground, so I didn't know the exact location from surface.**"

"Great," said Mecha. "I guess we're gonna have to do a long walk here. It would take some time to find that t-"

He was cut off when we heard rumbling. The ground was shaking. It was like an earthquake.

"What was that?" asked Sonic.

As a response, a large hole opened up beneath Mecha…and he fell in it.

We watched as he fell into the hole and screamed…well…or at least we heard someone screaming. It sounded like a little girl.

Before we could react, the next thing I knew was something crumbling beneath my feet.

"Not again," I thought in dread.

I felt myself falling into the dark hole. I screamed. Unlike what happened in Melbourne, this was like going through a dirty waterslide. Eventually, I came to a stop when I crashed into rocky ground face-first.

THUD!

"Ow!" I groaned. "Again?"

Before I could even lift my head up, I felt two more bodies hitting me on top.

"OUCH!

"**OOF!**"

It was Sonic and Wolfgang.

"Ugh…" said Sonic. "Where are we?"

"Can you guys please get off me?" I asked.

"**Oh,**" said Wolfgang getting up. "**Sorry Belt.**"

As I got up, I looked around. My eyes quickly got adjusted to the dark and I saw that we were in an underground hallway. The entire hallway made of yellow sandstone and the walls were decorated in Egyptian symbols. There were fire torches hanging on the walls.

"What is this place?" said Sonic.

"**I…**" said Wolfgang. "**I remember. This must be the place where I found that Daynight piece.**"

I looked at Wolfgang surprised. "You're sure?"

"**I think so. The last time I was here, there were many hallways that led to the tomb. It was further ahead in this maze.**"

"Great…a dark and creepy maze."

"Wait a minute," said Sonic. "Where are the others?"

Uh oh. I looked around. I felt worried. Bubblegum, Mecha and Chip weren't with us.

"Wait. Hold on," I said turning on my headset to contact Bubblegum. "Bubblegum, can you hear me?"

"_Loud and clear,_" said Bubblegum. "_Where are you?_"

"I'm with Wolfgang and Sonic. We seemed to be in an underground chamber."

"_Me too. I'm with Mecha and Chip. I think we got separated from you guys._"

"Wolfgang believes that the Daynight piece is somewhere around here. This must be the underground tomb he mentioned."

"…_Maybe, it might be. We should explore this place and find the next Daynight piece. We will meet each other if we find it._"

"So…" said Sonic tapping his foot. "What did they say?"

"Well," I said. "Bubblegum said she and the others are in a different hallway. She suggested that we should keep looking for the next Daynight piece."

"**OK then,**" said Wolfgang. "**We should get going now. I think I know how to get to the Daynight piece. I've been here before so I probably know my way around.**"

"Let's go, shall we?" said Sonic. "Let's go. We will try to meet up with the others."

* * *

**Third Person's POV, Another Hallway**

Meanwhile, Bubblegum, Mecha and Chip went through one of the many underground hallways. Unlike the one Belt was in, this hallway was filled with NO light and no torches, so the trio were just walking through the dark blindly.

"It's so dark in here," whimpered Chip hiding in Mecha's backpack.

"You're telling me," said Bubblegum as her eyes adjusted to the dark.

KATHONK!

"Ow!" said Mecha. An unstable ceiling brick fell off and hit the bird on the head.

"What was that?" said Chip.

"A stupid brick," grumbled Mecha.

"Hang on," said Bubblegum noticing something at the end of the tunnel. "I think I see something at the end of this hall."

"Is it the tomb where the Daynight piece is?" asked Mecha.

"Probably."

They reached the end of the hallway and found themselves in another room. It was a large tomb with many Egyptian writings, symbols and drawings on the walls, including the ceilings. The tomb was filled with many statues, chests, old vehicles and graves. The smell was rancid from the rotting bodies that were covered up in white bandages, lying on makeshift beds.

"Wow," said Bubblegum. "This place is huge."

"I wonder where the Daynight piece is," said Chip.

Little did they know that Mecha spotted something and skidded away.

Bubblegum and Chip started to walk forward. Bubblegum spotted an Egyptian golden statue not far from them. It was shaped as a pharaoh, had blue linings and jewels – rubies, sapphires and emeralds – decorated on the chest. Despite how good it looked, it was covered in cobwebs.

"I wonder if this place was abandoned and not found again," thought Bubblegum. "It seemed like no one was here for ages."

Suddenly, out of the blue, a hideous figure appeared in front of the cat, letting out a terrifying roar – jumped and scared her.

Chip screamed and hid behind Bubblegum.

Bubblegum jumped back in shock.

The hideous figure was an ugly mummy; its bandages dirty and stained brown, and the eyes were replaced with rotten carrot pieces.

Bubblegum quickly whipped out her Wispon and pointed it at the dead body. However, her fear was replaced by annoyance when she noticed two black gloved hands holding the hips of the mummy. That was when the dead body moved and down, and a familiar bird squawking could be heard. Bubblegum lowered her Wispon and saw who was holding the dead mummy; it was Mecha laughing like a retarded crow and he dropped the body onto the ground.

"Oh my cod!" giggled Mecha. "You guys freaked out. That was awe-"

Ticked off, Bubblegum kicked Mecha in the groin. Even though he endured the pain, he continued to laugh.

"Really?" said Bubblegum.

"He he…" said Mecha pulling one of his gloves up again. "Can't help it."

"You know that you're somewhat using those dead bodies as figures of fun…or offending the dead."

"It's just a joke," said Mecha picking up the dead body. He then carried it back where he found it. He placed it back neatly on a table.

"Please don't do that again," said Chip as he got off Bubblegum.

The trio continued to look for the Daynight piece around the tomb. However, they couldn't find the crystal. They flipped almost everything in the tomb and even opened the nearby chests and pots.

"Darn it," said Mecha closing a pot. "I don't see the Daynight piece here."

"Can you track it?" asked Bubblegum.

Mecha took out his tracking device and checked it. "Drat. It's not here. It's in a room close by. We are getting closer."

"Ooh!" said Chip upon founding a lever on a wall. "What's this?"

He flicked the lever downwards. At this, Bubblegum heard a noise under her. She looked down…and her eyes widened up.

Under her was a square-shaped hole. There was nothing, but darkness in that hole. Apparently, she was standing on NOTHING.

ABSOLUTELY nothing.

And she fell.

"CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…"

Mecha and Chip watched as Bubblegum descended into the hole. She was falling through the deep tunnel for a few seconds before landing on the ground with a sickening crunch.

CRACK!

"Ow!" said Bubblegum.

Mecha gave Chip a look. "Nice one, runt. Nice one."

"Are you OK, Bubblegum?" asked Chip ignoring Mecha's sarcastic compliment.

"I'm alright…" said Bubblegum getting up. "Dang it, you guys."

She looked around. She appeared to be in another room below. It was gigantic, but there was no light in the room and seemed empty. It was cold down there.

Bubblegum shivered a bit.

"Do you need help to get up?" asked Mecha.

"I'm fine," said Bubblegum. "I have my grappling gun here so-"

HISS!

She froze.

"What was that?" said Bubblegum looking around.

HISS!

"By that sound…" said Mecha looking worried. "That must be…"

His voice dropped as something slithered out from the dark. It was a snake. A LARGE LONG DARK BROWN SNAKE. It hissed as it came towards Bubblegum. Before she could say something, she could hear more hissing. Out of the dark, more snakes came towards Bubblegum, surrounding the cat from escaping.

Bubblegum's face turned pale, her body tensed up in fear. Even though she didn't know much about these snakes, she could tell what they are; ASPS. Egyptian snakes. One of the most venomous snake species known in the universe.

"Oh…crap," was all Bubblegum could say.

* * *

**Belt's POV, Another Hallway**

"**There are so many tunnels!**" said Wolfgang.

"Are we there yet?" said Sonic.

"**I don't think so. Only when my sense to the crystal is stronger.**"

"All we really need is a light."

"Good thinking!" I said sarcastically. "Tell me when you come across a time when you 'REALLY NEED IT'! We had been walking through these halls for an hour and a half."

"Sorry. My flashlight was dead. I used it up when we were back in that house."

"Can you try using it again?"

"Sure thing."

Sonic took out her flashlight and turned it on. The light shone in my face.

"GAH!" I said blocking my eyes.

"Sorry," said Sonic.

That was when the light started to flicker. It turned on and off due to the poor battery until…

POW!

It turned off nearly exploding. A black smoke could be seen pouring out from the flashlight.

"Yep," said Sonic. "It's dead."

I gave him a deadpanned look. Wolfgang didn't seem to be bothered by this.

"Anyway," said Sonic changing the subject. "Can you at least SMELL anything that's close ahead?"

"Not really…" I said. "It's so cold and moist in here that all I can smell is wet clay. I must be suffering a blocked nose."

"**Hey guys!**" said Wolfgang. "**NOW, I am sensing that it's here! We are almost there.**"

We continued to walk in the dark. My sensitive ears perked upwards. I heard something groaning near us. I started to be scared. It reminded me when I went into that stupid Forbidden Cave.

CREEEEEEEAAAAAKK!

We three stopped.

"**What was that?**" said Wolfgang.

Sonic shrugged. "Just nothing. Possibly someone dying in here."

I gave him a glare. We continued on, but…

PLONK!

I froze. I looked down. There was a plate I walked on. It was PRESSED. TRIGGERED.

I groaned. "Not again."

A loud clattering noise could be heard. We looked behind to see a metal gate closing behind us.

"What the heck?" I said.

"**Uh…guys…**" said Wolfgang pointing to something.

Turned out, there were many dispensers from the walls. They started to clatter and shake, ready to fire.

"Welp," I said ready to form a shield. "This isn't going to be pretty."

"Hold on," said Sonic grabbing my hand.

"**Say what?**" said Wolfgang as Sonic grabbed his hand.

Before we knew, Sonic ran into high speed, pulling the two of us. Everything was nearly a blur, but I managed to see that we were charging through the dangerous hallways. The dispensers were shooting arrows at us and some were lit on fire! To my horror, there were more traps as we rushed through.

Falling boulders, opening trapdoors, wall saws, the ceiling came down…it was madness.

Sonic was just running through those obstacles too fast. I and Wolfgang couldn't keep up so we just hung onto his hands for our dear lives. I was screaming at Sonic to let go, but he didn't listen.

Finally, we jumped over a large pit and landed onto the other side.

"Well that was fun," said Sonic.

I and Wolfgang bent down started to breath heavily.

"**You think?**" I growled.

"**Enough…surprises…for…today,**" said Wolfgang panting.

"Sonic," I said. "Next time, please don't drag us around like that."

"Then are you fast as me?" the blue hedgehog responded.

I noticed a glowing light at the end of the hallway.

"What's that?" I said.

"**It must be the Daynight piece,**" said Wolfgang. "**It's there.**"

"I hope so," I said.

We got to the end of the hallway and we were surprised by what we saw.

It was a small tomb having enough illumination from the hanging fire torches. What astonished me was the gold coins covering the tomb along with more jewels lying in the gold. On one of the walls, hung a large golden statue that represented a jackal head. The tomb was glowing gold.

"Holy cow!" said Sonic looking around. "This place is RICH. I wonder if anyone found this place before us because it looks UNTOUCHED."

"Maybe they haven't found this place yet," I said.

"**Hey!**" said Wolfgang pointing to something among the gold coins. "**There's the Daynight piece.**"

I looked at where he was pointing. There, we saw the glowing diamond piece lying in the pile of gold coins.

"That's the fourth one," I said as I came up to it and grabbed it.

I took out the other diamond pieces from my pocket and the fourth piece instantly flew and stick itself to the others.

"This is going well," said Sonic. "Only two more pieces, then we could use it to stop the Dark Gaia once and for all."

"**Where are the others?**" said Wolfgang. "**Are Bubblegum, Mecha and Chip OK?**"

"They should be fine," said Sonic. "Bubblegum and Mecha know what to do in a sticky situation and Chip is a god; he would be able to survive a threat."

Sonic looked at the gold coins. "Should we take some of these?"

"**Let's not,**" said Wolfgang. "**I'm not sure why, but I don't think it would be a good idea to steal something that's supposed to be here in this place.**"

I wasn't listening. I spotted something shining in the corner of my right eye. I looked and saw a large diamond. I picked it up. Much to my surprise, it was turquoise in colour.

"Clay would like that diamond if he was here," I thought.

For all of a sudden, upon having that thought, I felt sad again. I looked at the necklace I was wearing. At that moment, I felt uncomfortable. The same feeling I had during the whole adventure. Despite how easy and good this journey was, I missed my brother. I was very regretful for not telling him and not being honest. I was becoming homesick and ready to go home. Also, I promised that I would be back during the Tournament Finals to support him and his team which was the next day. Now I was starting to doubt that I wouldn't be able to get there in time. I lowered my head down. I felt tears in my eyes.

"Belt," said Sonic. "Are you OK, buddy?"

"What?" I said quickly snapping out of my daydream and turned around to look at him. "Oh…I'm alright."

I realized I forgot that I still had tears in my eyes. Sonic looked concern.

"Belt," said Sonic yet again. "You don't seem to be OK. What's wrong?"

"Oh…" I said, feeling a bit embarrassed. "I…I'm just feeling homesick."

Sonic tilted his head a bit. "Haven't been around with Clay for a while. Is that the problem?"

"Yeah…" I said dejectedly. More tears in my eyes as I kept on having the thought of Clay worrying about me. "Y…you know what; I think it was pretty stupid for not telling Clay what was happening. I miss him. H…he's…he is my only family left and I left him behind…again…"

I could feel the tears running down my face. I felt like an idiot. I took off my glasses, covered my eyes with my left hand and turned my back. That was when Sonic put his hand on my shoulder.

"Belt," said Sonic.

I looked at Sonic, uncovering my eyes. Though I didn't choose to put back my glasses on – making everything looked blurry – I could still make the image of the blue hedgehog.

"Don't feel upset," he said. "You knew that already happened, but the sooner we find the last couple of Daynight pieces, we could get you back home to see your brother."

I sniffed. "Sorry…it's just that…I've never been apart from Clay for so long. First was when I was captured by Eggman during that stupid war and second; THIS. This is the second time I lied to Clay."

"Y…" said Sonic confused. "You didn't lie. You just chose not to tell him about the Dark Gaia situation. What makes you think you are lying and why did you say that it was the second time you lied to your brother?"

A sudden urge of pain struck through me. Oh no. Not again. I didn't want to be thinking about it again.

"_Clay is still in his room. We need to get him!_"

"_Belt, hide behind the sofa!_"

"_Eyes on me here!_"

"_STOP!_"

But it did. I remembered the time that my parents died. Again, I felt the grief of losing my parents and not telling about their deaths to Clay for so long. It started to hurt so much. Even though it had been like 11 years now, it still scarred me. With that painful memory in my mind, I couldn't seem to get over it. I felt the constant tears running down my face.

"Belt?" said Sonic. "What's going on?"

I bit my lip which hurt so much. I finally stuttered the words out.

"I…I lied to Clay about…about our…our parents' death," I said.

Sonic looked surprised. Wolfgang's mouth went wide.

"What?!" said Sonic.

I bit my lips again and stuttered. "I…I didn't tell him about…about how our parents died until the end of the Infinite War. How it happened…long short story…when I found the rings that…Clay and I are wearing today…my family was attacked by an Eggman robot…because of the magic rings I found…and I accidentally…used my power to set my home on fire…that was the last time I saw my parents…"

More tears and I looked down. I felt like an idiot for crying in front of my friends for no sick reason.

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Sonic quietly. "Even if you lost your parents, I bet they want you to keep going. They would be proud of you for telling Clay the truth and what has been happening now."

I nodded simply. I didn't know why, but a feeling of anger going through my body. I felt my hands clenched into fists.

"I…" I said. "I think I'm angry at God."

Sonic looked at me with a confused look. "Angry at who?"

"A…" I said, but I just shook my head and looked down. "You probably don't understand."

Sonic sighed. "Was it because of your parents' death?"

I felt a bit surprised at what Sonic said. "N-no…I mean yes. Especially for all the trauma that happened. I don't know why God just let these problems happen. I don't think all the people in the world deserve conflicts. I don't know why he just let Bubblegum and I did this stupid act in releasing the Dark Gaia…I…I hate all those STUPID gods and their STUPID workers for EVERYTHING THEY DID…who am I kidding…this is ridiculous. I should be focusing on saving the world instead of grieving over something that is no longer important. I…I don't know why I kept having these thoughts."

I tenderly pushed Sonic's hand off my shoulder and put my glasses back on. I sat on the pile of gold coins and rubbed my eyes.

"Buddy," said Sonic kneeling down. "Listen to me."

I looked up.

Sonic continued. "I don't know much about this 'God' you are following or any other god on this planet, but I know one thing; it's not THEIR fault or OURS. It's just a way of life. Everyone's life may not always go the way they want, but it is still up to you to choose what to do in life. I know how it feels to go through hell, but that's OK. You know that those terrible times are already over. You should continue on no matter what would happen in the future."

I gave Sonic a glare.

"How do you know that? Sure you have friends that you are close with, but it's not like YOU lost a family or somewhat a relative of yours. If you are SO KEEN to move on, should you be worried about your family when you're away or at least try to find them? And if you are SO BRAVE, why didn't you stop Eggman before he took my parents away?!"

"Impossible," said Sonic sadly. "When I was young, I didn't know my parents and I only lived with my uncle. One day, Eggman attacked my home and I quickly ran away. That was a long time ago. I don't know what happened to them ever since. Besides, I'm not infallible. If I would, I could go back in time and kill that monster. But I was probably the same age as you are when that happened. We are both 17, right? I didn't know how powerful Eggman could be at that time."

There was a long awkward silence as I just stared as Sonic. I sighed sadly.

"I…I'm sorry. I just can't shake these thoughts out of my head," I said sadly, rubbing my teary eyes.

"**Don't worry about them,**" said Wolfgang. "**I even had doubts about myself, but with your help, I am getting over them. You know that you're not alone in this.**"

I nodded. Maybe Wolfgang was right.

The silence was broken when Wolfgang started to groan and held onto his head.

"Oh no!" said Sonic. "Not again."

I quickly got up and rushed over to the growling black wolf. I placed my hand on Wolfgang's forehead. I let my eyes glowed and started to talk to him slowly.

"Calm down now," I said slowly. "Don't feel tense. Take a deep breath and let it go."

After a while, Wolfgang took some breaths and opened his eyes slowly. To my relief, his eyes were still red.

"**T…thank you, Belt,**" he said with a smile.

I smiled back. I looked at Sonic.

"Sorry for being an idiot," I said.

"That's OK," he said. "You already apologize."

"**Wait a minute,**" said Wolfgang. "**Does anyone smell chicken?**"

All of a sudden, I smelled a burning smell coming into the tomb.

"Yeah, same…" I said.

Some mumbling could be heard.

"Well what do you know," said Sonic spotting three figures going through the hallway that connected to the tomb. "It looks like the others had finally caught up with us. Just in time."

Coming into the tomb were Bubblegum and Mecha – both ticked off – covered in black ashes. I noticed that Bubblegum's ponytail and Mecha's hair and tail feathers were slightly burnt. Behind them was Chip who – compared to Bubblegum and Mecha – looked OK.

"What took you so long?" said Sonic with a smile.

"We got lost and found another tomb," explained Chip. "So far, Bubblegum fell into a pit of snakes, Mecha nearly got squashed by a large boulder and we ended up in a room set on fire."

"I thought I told you not to tell them THAT," hissed Bubblegum at Chip before looking at us. "Do you have the Daynight piece?"

"Yeah," I said. "I got it. It already stick itself to the others."

The burning smell came back again.

"Uh…Mecha," said Chip. "Your butt's on fire again."

Mecha groaned upon seeing that his backside was on fire. Bubblegum quickly patted the bird's butt several times.

"So since we already found the fourth piece," said Mecha. "How do we get out of this tomb?"

A crumbling noise could be heard from above. Suddenly, one of the blocks that was part of the ceiling dropped from its position and fell on Mecha. However, he quickly moved to the side and the block hit the ground beside him. Then, ANOTHER block fell, but Mecha quickly moved from his spot.

"Phew," said Mecha. "That was-"

CLONK!

That was when the third falling ceiling block smashed Mecha on the head. He stumbled onto the ground.

"Oh my gosh!" said Chip. "Are you OK?"

Mecha's only response was to groan and cursed, "Every…time…"

Sonic looked at where the falling ceiling blocks came from. There was a hole in the ceiling and surprisingly, it let some sunlight into the tomb.

"I guess that's our way out," said Sonic.

"Could it be?" I said.

"Only one way to find out. Someone give me a boost."

I decided to help Sonic, lifting him up. I put my hands out and he jumped onto my hands. I nearly fell over. The blue hedgehog looked out from the hole to see what's up there.

"What do you know?" he said. "..is the surface."

We all helped each other to get through the hole. Turned out, above the tomb was the surface. It led to the outside pavement of one of the tourist pyramids.

"Welp, that went well," said Bubblegum – the last one to get out of the tomb.

Wolfgang looked at the sky. "It's still daytime. Maybe we can go to where the next Daynight piece; just in time for tonight."

"This should be good," said Mecha. "By tomorrow night, we will be able to get all the Daynight pieces, use them to stop Dark Gaia and we can go back home."

* * *

**AN: Well this is a good chapter. I thought of using the Egyptian tomb as an idea of where the Daynight piece is.**

**Also, about Belt's little speech, I came up with this idea. It's just that...there are a lot of bad things happening out there. So many incidents. Car crashes. People dying. Political war. Climate changes. You name it. I sometimes put my faith in God...or whoever is responsible for taking care for us, but I felt like that life is not fair. I just wish that the world will be safe and peaceful where everyone can be happy, but sadly, that dream never comes true. However, like what Sonic said, it is important to focus on the future rather on thinking about the past horrible things. If we want to make the world a better place, we need to do something about it. **

**That's all for today. If you like this story: follow or favorite this story for updates of the story. Make sure to review this chapter on what you thought of this story. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).**

**The question for this chapter: No matter what beliefs you have, do you agree with Belt's speech or Sonic's? Tell me who is right and wrong. Please put your answers in the reviews.**

**Until next time, see you all in the next chapter next Monday!**


	7. Bullfighting using a Red Wolf

**AN: I'm back! Here's the next chapter for this story!**

* * *

**Chapter 7 – Bullfighting using a Red Wolf**

**Rio, 3:28 pm**

After knowing where the next Daynight piece was, we were able to head to the next destination; Rio, Brazil. When we got there, I looked around in the poor but lively and colorful city.

"Geez," I said holding onto my shirt collar. "It's pretty humid here."

"At least it's not that hot compared to the desert," pointed out Sonic.

Mecha checked his watch. "It's still early. Sunset won't happen until another four hours."

"Then let's check around this place," said Sonic, "We got a lot of time."

We went over to the center of one of the small towns. There were many people there with lots of small shops opened. There was even a large fountain in the middle.

"This is a pretty cool place," said Sonic as Chip, Bubblegum, Mecha and Wolfgang walked off to explore. "Reminds me of the first time I met Chip."

I nodded. "It's pretty warm, but it has a nice breeze." I paused for a while before speaking. "Sonic, I was wondering about this; after the Infinite War, what did you and the Resistance do? Did anything happen while my friends and I were away?"

"Good question; while you guys were back at your own home, it seemed that the war was just the beginning. I had to save many towns from attacking robots that were left out from the war, found an amnesiac Eggman, stopped Metal from destroying Angel Island, encountered a new villain who was able to restore Eggman to his madman persona, gone through a dangerous virus that spread over the world-" **[1]**

"Wait…" I said. "Eggman is still alive?"

"Yeah," said Sonic. "He hadn't done any attack ever since last month, but I had my suspicions. But don't worry about him too much. The Resistance got this handled. What about you? What did you and your brother Clay do after the Infinite War?"

I cleared my throat. "Well…we moved into Forest Tournament Town which is now our home. I made some new friends there and funny thing; after those past months, it seemed that I already know EVERYONE in town."

Sonic chuckled. "I guessed that being part of the Resistance made you famous, huh?"

"Well at first. Nowadays, the whole town acts as if we are one big family."

"What about Clay, Emerald and Sebastian? Are they fine?"

"They are alright. Sebastian is still cool as a cucumber, Emerald is as goofy as ever and Clay…well he…is doing alright. Sure he gets upset and frustrated at times – that's how he is – but he is doing OK."

"That's good to know."

Sonic looked up and chuckled.

"Hey Belt," he said. "Look at that."

I looked up to see Chip at an ice cream vendor, buying an ice cream. Something caught my eye; I saw Chip holding a white leather wallet with a red stripe on it.

"IS THAT MY WALLET?!" I exclaimed.

Sonic laughed. "Speak for yourself. I remembered one time that I had to pay 100 dollars for an ice cream for him."

I gritted my teeth. "**I'll let him slip this time, but the next time he takes another dollar from my wallet, it will be his last.**"

"Don't be too hard on him."

* * *

**Third Person's POV**

Wolfgang couldn't help but laughed as he sat near the fountain and watched Belt demanding Chip for his wallet back. The last few moments of the adventure were alright. For once, Wolfgang wasn't worried about himself. Sure what happened last night almost got his friends killed and he felt worried that he might go insane again, but his friends told him that they were there for him. He thought again about what Belt said to him about how he wanted to look out for him like how he treated his younger brother.

The black wolf smiled and closed his eyes. However – as usual – good things weren't always like that for long. That was when a splash of cold liquid hit Wolfgang on the head.

SPLASH!

"**ARGH!**" he yelped as the water soaked his fur.

He looked behind to see a laughing Mecha, his hands wet.

"**What was that for?!**" said Wolfgang slightly offended.

"I was just messing around," said Mecha. "I didn't really mean it."

Wolfgang shook his head, shaking away the water. First he got Belt to carry him over a lake and at that moment, Mecha decided to have fun with water.

"**Please don't splash me with that water again. I don't like it.**" said Wolfgang.

"C'mon," said Mecha as he playfully flicked a water droplet onto Wolfgang's nose making the latter flinched. "You're scared of water?"

"**OK…yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever.**"

Mecha chucked. "I'm just messing with you. Don't worry. I have a fear of sharp things."

Meanwhile, Bubblegum watched the conversation while leaning against a wall. Again, she thought about if she met Wolfgang before.

"I always have that feeling that I've seen him before," she thought. "Why can't I shake that feeling off? It seems that I know him all along. His fighting skills, his naive nature, his feeling of shame at sometimes, his fear of water…maybe…what if…"

A possible answer came into Bubblegum's head which made her heart skipped a beat. Maybe it could be true. Maybe Wolfgang was…

At this, Bubblegum came up to Mecha. "Excuse me, can I speak with you for a while please?"

Mecha stood up. "OK."

The two walked over to an alley and after Bubblegum looked around to see if nobody was watching them, Mecha broke the silence.

"So what is it, soft kitty?" he asked with his arms crossed.

"First, this is only between us," explained Bubblegum. "We won't reveal it to the others until we have proof. Second, you might know about this already. Do you find Wolfgang somewhat…familiar?"

"I have," said Mecha with a thoughtful look. "I've recognised that voice, but I'm not sure if I REALLY met him before."

"Yeah. But…you've noticed about his traits, do you?"

"I do," said Mecha. "He's a bit of a scatterbrain at times and mostly nervous. He also kicked butt when we were in Japan. I laughed at the thought that he is scared of water…like Sonic."

"What if…?" said Bubblegum hesitating. She looked back at the inquisitive Wolfgang looking around before she looked back at Mecha and whispered, "What if Wolfgang…i…is my father?"

Mecha's eyes widened up. "WHAT?!"

"I know…it sounds impossible and stupid…"

"It does," said Mecha. "That is just a theory or some notion you came up with 28 seconds ago. We both know that you…me…I mean US accidentally caused your father's death."

As he said that, Mecha nervously looked down in guilt.

"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU IT WAS NOT OUR FAULT!" said Bubblegum sternly. "He saved us and we tried to! What if my father is STILL ALIVE the whole time? We both know that he fell into that darn ravine four years ago. Possibly, all this time, he survived and been affected by the Dark Gaia, causing his memories to wipe out and becoming like…that."

Mecha placed his hand below his beak. "Well…that could be a true fact. One thing though; Wolfgang is a WOLF. Your father is a CAT. However, I think that the Dark Gaia changed his entire body. You could be right. Also, remember the first time we saw him underground?"

Bubblegum nodded.

"The worn-out clothes he was wearing…they were the same clothes your father always wore – black gloves with spikes and black shoes. He even have the same hairstyle your father had, regardless that his police vest was missing."

"Well…I guessed we do have evidence," said Bubblegum. "OR we might be looking at the wrong guy. If we tell anyone, we may be ridiculed. I am not sure if it is true. Let's just keep it a secret until we finally find the right time to tell him."

"Got it."

All of a sudden, a broken wooden plank from a balcony fell and hit Mecha in the head. The poor bird collapsed onto his back and yelped in pain. Bubblegum just stared at him blankly.

"Of course, I thought that was going to happen," she said flatly.

"Katihia to waha," grumbled Mecha.

('Katihia to waha' means 'shut your crappy mouth' in Maori)

* * *

**Belt's POV, 7:30 pm**

The sun had gone down the horizon and the sky darkened. Many people started to go back to their houses. At this time, Mecha was able to locate where the Daynight piece was.

"OK," he said as he checked his device. "This time, the piece is underground the streets. I believe that there will be an entrance nearby that can take us underground."

"Alright," said Sonic. "Let's go."

We all started to walk down the streets to find that piece with Mecha leading. It took us a few minutes to reach there…but halfway, there was a commotion. All of a sudden, a person came flying – nearly knocking Mecha down – and hit a wall. This surprised us.

"What the heck?!" said Bubblegum.

I looked at the person's body. He was lying on the floor seemingly lifeless. However, he was still breathing as if he just came out of a bar. His eyes were wide open and his tongue was sticking out. The strangest thing was that there were purple clouds all over his head.

"Um…guys," said Mecha looking at a large clearing. "You might want to see this."

We all saw what he was looking at. In the large clearing, there were many Dark Gaia's minions. Among them were humans, but something didn't look right. Like the state the man was in, they had purple clouds around their head. They seemed to be yelling and attacking anything they see, provoking the dark monsters to pounce. Many tables, chairs, plants and rocks were thrown everywhere. Some of the buildings nearby were slightly damaged. It was delirium.

"Oh my cod," I said.

Bubblegum had an idea. "You guys go off to find that Daynight piece. I'll help those people."

"Are you sure?" said Sonic.

"These people need help. We can't let them get hurt."

Immediately, Bubblegum ran towards the chaos.

"Let's just go guys," said Mecha. "She can take care of herself."

We continued to head over to the destination, this time we ran. We had to go up a hill and got to a large clearing. At the corner of this space, we saw a large hole near a building.

"This doesn't look all right," I said.

"**This must be where the Daynight piece was,**" said Wolfgang. "**I don't see any monsters out here.**"

We came near the hole and Mecha looked over the edge.

"Looks like it's clear in there," said Mecha. "Pity that we don't have Bubblegum's grappling rope to get us out of that hell hole when we go down there."

"Um, guys…" said Chip looking behind us.

"What is it, Chip?" asked Sonic.

Chip was speechless. He could only point. Mecha and I looked behind to see a rhino.

A HUGE RHINO.

It had very sharp horns, flaming eyes and flaming shadow skin. I realized that it looked like the same as the one I saw back at Forest Tournament Town.

"That again?!" I said.

"Uh, bye!" said Mecha quickly jumping into the hole.

At that moment, it was just me, Sonic, Chip and Wolfgang.

The rhino didn't waste time. It charged at us.

"Oh crap!" I said. "Dodge!"

We quickly jumped out of the way; Sonic and Chip leaped to the left while Wolfgang and I got to the right. The rhino nearly missed the hole and smashed into a building.

BOOM!

A roar from the rhino could be heard from the broken building.

"We can't let that beast run loose," said Sonic. "Not on the streets."

"**It's afraid of fire,**" said Wolfgang. "**It's one thing that can easily destroy that beast.**"

"I guess it's all up to me now!" I said grabbing my Wispon. However, I didn't know what was coming.

The rhino came out, running as fast as light. It came smashing into me and I felt the pain of the sharp horns that nearly stabbed me in the ribs. I felt myself flying into the air and crashed into Wolfgang.

"Belt! Wolfgang!" exclaimed Sonic.

The blue hedgehog then let out a cry of rage and did a homing attack at the rhino. However, the rhino quickly turned around and head-butt the hedgehog, causing the latter to fly in another direction and nearly hit Chip.

"**Dang it,**" I growled. "The beast is tough."

"**I have an idea,**" said Wolfgang.

"What is-"

Before I could say anything, Wolfgang ripped off my vest, shirt and utility belt at the SAME TIME.

"HEY!" I yelled. "What are you-?"

All of a sudden, Wolfgang picked me up with both hands and held it out to his side. I saw that the rhino was trying to finish off Sonic, but the hedgehog was too fast.

"**HEY STINKY!**" shouted Wolfgang.

The rhino turned around to face Wolfgang. I noticed its eyes were staring at me. In an instant, I realized what Wolfgang INTENDED to do.

"A…Are you going to…" I stammered, my face turning pink in anxiousness.

"**Yes…**" said Wolfgang with an ambitious look.

The rhino charged at us – steam coming out from its nose. I felt the anxiety kicking in my mind.

"**You want a piece of me?**" said Wolfgang to the rhino. "**Come and get it!**"

I broke into cold sweat. I tried to free myself from Wolfgang's grip, but he was too strong. All I knew was two sharp horns about to poke through my chest. This was great. It was like I needed a hole – or two – in the forehead.

"Oh crap, OH CRAP, **OH CRAP!**" I keep thinking.

I couldn't help, but let out a cowardly scream as the bull came close. However, Wolfgang quickly spun at the very last moment and the rhino rushed past.

"**Olé!**" said Wolfgang.

The rhino smashed uselessly into the stone bricked floor. It pulled itself out, turned to us and charged again.

"LET ME GO!" I screamed as I tried to kick myself out of Wolfgang's grip. "LET ME GO!"

Wolfgang – again – avoided being hit. He nimbly stepped to the side and the rhino missed.

"**Olé! Olé!**" said Wolfgang.

"Bravo!" said Sonic enjoying the bullfight.

"Good going, Wolfgang!" said Chip.

"This is bullcrap!" I swore.

Each time the rhino ran past the quick Wolfgang, it would get madder and faster. Wolfgang – on the other hand – was able to avoid being hit by either spinning or stepping out of the way princess-style. He seemed to be very enthusiastic about this. For me, not so much. I was screaming and begging for Wolfgang to put me down. I didn't want to be a red flag for a sharp-horned rhino to be torn off. Was it REALLY necessary for someone to take advantage of someone's red fur for a stupid bull fight?

And we were in BRAZIL. Not MEXICO.

Finally, Wolfgang stepped near the hole and tempted the rhino to ram into us.

"**Over here, ugly!**" mocked Wolfgang.

The rhino charged and I screamed. At this, Wolfgang spun and the rhino missed, only to fall into the hole in a humiliating defeat.

I took a deep breath; that was frightening. Wolfgang – who tired himself out – laughed and collapsed onto the floor. I even fell on the floor as well; trembling and my eyes wide-opened. At the same time, I heard the, unfortunately, the sound of a heavy rhino landing on an unlucky bird.

THUD!

SQUAWK!

"**T…that…that wa…w…was…that was fun!**" said Wolfgang between laughs.

"That's because you are not me," I said upset.

Sonic and Chip came over and helped us up.

"Are you two OK?" Sonic asked.

"**I'm alright,**" said Wolfgang.

"I'm not," I said.

Chip looked at me and then laughed.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Belt," said Chip chuckling. "Are you trying a new fur color?"

"N-no…what are you talking about?"

"Your fur was red and now it's pink!" Sonic said.

As he and Chip giggled, I took a moment to look at my arms. They were both red-pink…I mean, my ENTIRE body was red-pink. As the two laughed more, I felt embarrassed and placed my hands over my face in awkwardness. I noticed that my fur was turning pinker, symbolizing my shame. I heard a loud pterodactyl screaming, but either I didn't care or didn't bother to worry about it.

Finally, Sonic and Chip settled down, and my fur returned to its original red-orange color. Wolfgang placed a hand on my shoulder.

"**Sorry that I had to do that, man,**" he said. "**Couldn't help it.**"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I said slightly annoyed. "But I'll admit it was a bit fun."

I went over to get my vest, shirt and utility belt. As I put them back on, yelling could be heard from the hole.

"O QUE OS CARAS #$% VOCÊS?!" echoed Mecha's voice.

('O que os caras #$% vocês' means 'what the #$% you guys?!' in Portuguese) **[2]**

I looked behind to see a ticked-off Mecha – his hair feathers bent and his beak a bit crooked – coming out of the hole with a battered Flood Splash XS 8.

"Could you at least give me a warning before you decided to drop some fat rhino into that hole?!" he squawked. "My weapon is damaged and I only got a shot before it broke!"

"**Sorry…**" said Wolfgang sheepishly.

"Do you have the Daynight piece?" I asked.

"Well here it is," Mecha said, pulling it out.

I grabbed the Daynight diamond from my vest and instantly, that piece connected with the diamond.

"One more to go," said Sonic. "That was easy."

"Let's hope that we will be able to find the one soon," said Chip. "We don't know what Dark Gaia is planning next."

"**Well then,**" said Wolfgang closing his eyes happily. "**Let's go check how Bubblegum is doing.**"

He started to walk off, but I noticed something.

"Uh…Wolfgang…" I said.

Wolfgang stopped. He looked down. Turned out, he walked over the hill's edge and now in mid-air.

He was standing on nothing.

ABSOLUTELY nothing.

And below him – at least 39 meters high – was the ground.

And he fell down.

"CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…."

I looked over the edge to see where Wolfgang was going to fall into.

A large water fountain.

That was kind of a relief.

On the other hand, Wolfgang didn't see it THAT way.

He screamed.

I understood why.

Not only because of his fear of water.

BANG!

He landed on the top sphere of the fountain…groin-first.

"**OOOOOOOOHH ########$$$%%%!**" he screamed in pain before falling into the water. **[2]**

SPLASH!

After he hit the water, he came out and coughed the water out from his mouth. He didn't like it, so as expected, got out of the water in a hurry. He collapsed onto the ground, coughing out more water.

"You're alright, mate?" said Bubblegum who happened to be nearby where Wolfgang landed.

"**...I'm alright...**" coughed Wolfgang as Bubblegum helped him up.

He shook himself to get rid of the water like a wet dog. "**I'm not going near that stupid pool of water again!**"

I and the others came down the hill quickly.

"How did you go?" asked Chip to Bubblegum.

"It was alright," said Bubblegum. "I was able to get rid of those monsters and cured those people from that infection. You got the Daynight piece?"

"Yep," I said. "It's already connected with the other one."

"We got only one more to go," said Sonic. "Where's next?"

* * *

**AN: Remember folks! 1 review = 1 hit to Wolfgang's balls! Just kidding. ;3**

**[1] What Sonic was referring to was his adventures in the IDW Comic Series. I decided to use this story series set between Dark Wolf Begins and this story.**

**[2] ****Please excuse the words replaced by various symbols as the letters for that word were caught in traffic and unable to make it here on time for the chapter. :3**

**It is surprising that Bubblegum and Mecha suspects that Wolfgang may be Bubblegum's father. I haven't put enough detail of how Bubblgum's father is, but it is explained in this chapter. Hopefully, I will be able to flesh this more in the rewrite of Dark Wolf Begins.**

**Also, the idea of Wolfgang using Belt as a RED FLAG came from several books written by Andy Griffiths. It would be pretty funny if Wolfgang does a bullfight, but instead - to dial up to 11 - he used a REAL-LIFE person as the flag. Since Belt's fur is red and red items are used in bullfights, Wolfgang used HIM. This is probably one of my best scenes ever.**

**That's all for today. If you like this story: follow or favorite this story for updates of the story. Make sure to review this chapter on what you thought of this story. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).**

**The question for this chapter: Do you think Bubblegum might be right or do you think Wolfgang may be something else? Is he anything more than a 'creation' of Dark Gaia. Please put your answers in the reviews.**

**Until next time, see you all in the next chapter next Monday!**


	8. Tension in Big Apple

**AN: I'm back! Here's the next chapter for this story! However, this one will be more tense.**

* * *

**Chapter 8 – Tension in Big Apple**

**12/12 (at 9:30 am), New York**

Throughout the night, we headed over to where the last Daynight piece; New York. I hoped that it would be over soon as the tournament finals would be happening that night and I really didn't want to miss it. I knew that Clay would be nervous if I didn't come back in time. Regardless of that thought, I was able to remain calm and stayed awake the whole night.

Thanks to Chip's power of levitation, we were able to get to New York. The first thing I noticed about the place was this;

"MY GOD!" I said feeling the cold breeze of American winter. "It's cold here!"

"Yeah…" said Bubblegum folding her arms. "You're telling me."

As I put my hands in my pants pockets, I looked at the others. Sonic, Wolfgang and Chip looked away. Mecha – on the other hand – gave me another 'told you so' look.

"Speak for yourself," Mecha said with a smirk. "I told you to get some long-sleeved clothes, but you didn't listen."

I rolled my eyes and Bubblegum just gave Mecha a glare as the bird blew a raspberry. We continued on our trek and found ourselves in the snowing New York. As it was December, it was winter in this city. It was snowing and the sky was partly cloudy. The city was like Melbourne, but I could tell that the city was much bigger and there were more buildings and billboards. As we walked on the sidewalk, I saw some festive decorations hanging on different buildings. Like Melbourne, everyone must be in the Christmas spirits.

It was a very busy time of the year with tons of cars and people walking in different directions. And judging by the look on Wolfgang, he didn't seem to be fond of what was happening here. He was covering his ears from the noise of the city.

The cars.

The chatting.

The billboard sounds.

The overwhelming smell of trash.

"Funny thing," said Mecha checking his tracking device. "I can see the Daynight piece's location on this map. It's daytime and it seems to be real already; not a night vision."

"**Maybe someone else found it,**" said Wolfgang.

"Then that means that it must be somewhere in this city," said Chip.

"I guess we're gonna have to find it right now," said Bubblegum as she leaned on a cafe door. "Who knows what they might do to-"

She was cut off when the door she was leaning on opened. She nearly fell.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" she said as she quickly gained her balance.

"Oops," said a voice jokingly. "My mistake."

Hearing this, I froze. That voice sounded familiar. Could it be…?

I looked at the person who opened the door. It was a male black bird with dark brown eyes, had a hairstyle that was similar to Mecha's and had white tips/stripes on his hair, tail, arms and legs. He was wearing a dark green military beret with a yellow Resistance symbol on the side, black rimmed glasses, a forest green vest, dark green gloves and green/black boots. On his shoulder was a small Chao wearing a small yellow cap.

Upon seeing us, the bird smiled. "Oh. It's you guys."

"Chao!" said the bird's Chao.

"Hi there Ash!" said Sonic.

"Hi Ash…" said Bubblegum and Mecha, the latter sounded slightly annoyed.

Now I remembered. Ash was a former soldier of the Resistance and the leader of the Yellow Squad. He participated in the army during the Infinity War and I remembered seeing him during my time at the Resistance HQ. From what I heard from Clay, he was a nice guy, but hot temper AND had a mischievous side (as he once chopped Mecha's hair feathers off during training).

"Well the blue hedgehog and the Black Squad are back in town again, eh?" he said with a smirk. That was when he noticed the burnt tips on Bubblegum's and Mecha's hairs and tails. "Oh my gosh. What happened to you two?"

"Best not to tell you about it," grumbled Mecha.

Ash turned his head to see Wolfgang and Chip.

"And who are these two?" said Ash.

"Oh, the black wolf is Wolfgang and that small little creature is Chip," I said.

Ash looked at Chip dumbfounded before snickering.

"Anyway," he said. "What brought you here?"

I explained the situation to him about the Dark Gaia and how we were trying to get the Daynight pieces.

"Dark Gaia, huh?" Ash said once I finished. "I heard about that beast before back in school. I guessed that's why the news said that there were dark streaks flying in the sky and people started to have extreme mood swings during night time."

"I don't suppose you know where the Daynight piece is, do you?" I asked.

"I think I do…" said Ash, thinking carefully. "I remembered I was watching the news and saw a mysterious white shiny diamond piece, glowing green was found underground two nights ago."

"What?!" I said surprised.

"Where is it?" asked Sonic.

"The people who found it decided to put it on display in a new museum that just opened yesterday."

"A new museum…" said Mecha.

"**How can we get it?**" said Wolfgang.

"Welp, if you want it, you have to pay for it," said Ash. "And it cost 15 million dollars."

"FIFTEEN FREAKING MILLION DOLLARS!" I and Mecha exclaimed.

"Don't yell out loudly in public guys…" mumbled Bubblegum,

"Yeah…" continued Ash rubbing the back of his head. "But I believe I can help you get it."

"How?" I asked.

"Well, there's a lottery going on. I'm in it. I already filled in a number and if my number wins, I could get enough money to buy the Daynight piece."

"**How much?**" asked Wolfgang.

"About 20 and a half million dollars."

"What?!" said Sonic surprised. "That's more than enough!"

"I know, right? I could give you the money to get the Daynight piece."

"When will they announce the winner?" Bubblegum asked.

"Tonight at 7 pm," said Ash.

"This is as easy as pie!" said Sonic. "Gotta thank you for helping us."

"Yeah," said Mecha. "Thank you for your help."

Ash laughed. "Of course. It's my job to help others in need. Now come along, I could let you stay at the hotel I'm crashing at for now."

* * *

Even though we knew that we would be staying in New York for a while, Ash invited us to his hotel room. Ash offered to make some tea for us, even though Wolfgang refused to have some.

"So Ash," said Sonic, leaning on the wall. "Why are you here?"

"My squad and I are going to work as night guards for a week at the new museum I told you about earlier. Those museum people could have called some G.U.N. agents to take the job, but they are busy at the moment. They are on patrol around the city."

At this, Ash gave each of us a cup of tea. Chip was the first to drink it.

"Ugh…" said Chip. "This tasted bitter."

"What do you expect?" said Ash matter-of-factly. "Tea is sometimes that bitter."

I drank my tea. True to Chip's word, it tasted bitter but has a slightly sweet taste at the tail end. All of a sudden, Mecha spewed his tea out from his beak. The liquid hit the wooden floor and left a dark mark on it. Seeing this, Ash laughed.

"Did you put BLEACH in my tea?!" said Mecha glaring at Ash.

That was when Ash's Chao took out a bottle of bleach showing the bird. Fortunately, it said on the bottle that it wasn't too poisonous to kill any living organisms (for some reason).

"I couldn't help it," said Ash through his giggle. "You should have seen your own face after you drank that!"

"Speak for yourself," muttered Bubblegum. "Nicki did the same prank on me…"

Mecha's eye twitched. He grabbed Ash's vest. "First you plucked my feathers and NOW you nearly poisoned me! Any more of this and I will tear off that stupid hat of yours."

Ash just smirked, nearly in a hostile way. "You can try."

While Sonic tried to calm the two birds down, I looked around the room. I noticed that Wolfgang wasn't here.

"That's strange," I thought. "He was here a few seconds ago, but he somehow disappeared."

"Guys," I said. "Do you know where Wolfgang went?"

Everyone noticed that the black wolf was missing.

"No," said Sonic. "I thought he's behind you."

"Maybe he opened the door and left it opened," said Ash pointing to the door. It was slightly opened.

"Oh," said Chip. "I don't think we heard him went out."

"I could check on him."

Feeling that Wolfgang must be having another bad thought, I stood up.

"It's fine. I'll be right back," I said. "I'll go look for him."

"Be careful," said Mecha in a sing-a-long way.

I ignored him, walked out of the room and closed the door.

* * *

**Third Person's POV**

It was dark where Wolfgang was. There was no noise except the sound of Wolfgang softly tapping his fingers on the large garbage bin he was leaning on. He looked around the place he was in; he quickly retreated to the small alley near the hotel. He felt the cold wind blowing on his body, but he didn't mind it. It was dark, but he could see in the dark.

Wolfgang was lost in thought; the state he was at sometimes. He was thinking about how the adventure went so far. He had stopped worrying about himself and started to accept who he was. BUT there was one thing on his mind.

What would happen when all of these are over?

What would he do? He couldn't just go back underground and stay there forever. He wondered if Belt would decide to let him live in his town, city or…who knew what. But he was not sure if there would be other people who might accept him. Wolfgang knew that his red eyes and dark voice weren't usual from the normal people. He was probably the black sheep of the herd. No. A monster to the village.

Sure yes, Belt was a wolf and maybe there might be other wolves in his place. In fact, many people didn't mind him when he was around as he didn't get too much negative attention. Wolfgang wasn't a bad monster and was kind and caring to others, even though he might go feral under the control of the Dark Gaia. Even if that WAS true and if he WAS anything other than a selfish demon, it didn't CHANGE the fact that he came from a dark god.

"Would Belt and his friends accept me for who I am?" Wolfgang thought. "I know that they respect me but…I probably have nowhere to go in the end. I wonder if they would let me stay at their place or…"

As the thought drifted off, Wolfgang saw a shady person coming. At first, he thought it was just some guy coming into the alley suffering a hangover. But it wasn't. It was Belt.

* * *

**Belt's POV**

"There you are," I said. "I was wondering where you went."

"**Ah,**" said Wolfgang. "**Sorry. Just need some time alone to think.**"

Wolfgang sat down on the floor. I sat next to him.

"**Time is flying by so fast already, huh?**" said Wolfgang.

"Yeah," I said. "I'm relieved that we are one step closer to the last Daynight piece. When we get it, we can all go home."

"**That's if I could have one,**" said Wolfgang grimly.

At first, I was confused. But then, I realised that Wolfgang had no place to stay.

"Oh…" I said. "Right…"

"**It's just that…I was thinking of what I am going to do after all of this. Honestly, I don't know where would I go for my entire life. I don't know where would I live, so I'm pretty much at lost.**"

I thought for a while. "What if…what if you stay in my town?"

"**Wait…what?!**" said Wolfgang surprised.

"Yeah. Maybe you could stay at my house and live with me and Clay."

Wolfgang looked down. "**I'm not sure if that's a good idea. Your people would not like me.**"

"Don't worry about them. Since we all live in one – big, but personally small – town, we are pretty nice to each other."

"**But what if people see me as a monster? Yes. I look like a normal wolf – they won't mind – but I'm made from Dark Gaia! I'm just a demon. I may be a burden to your town! I…I may even betray everyone because I can't be free from Dark Gaia's control.**"

I noticed that Wolfgang looked upset. He hugged himself and bowed his head down. I swore I saw tears in his eyes. This was the first time I saw him cry. I knew that he could be sad at times without showing too much as he was used to that loneliness for the past 4 years, but it seemed that he couldn't hold on any longer. It was silent for a while. I placed my hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry," I said. "If there are any problems, I'll help you. I promised you that, remember?"

Wolfgang smiled sadly. "**Yeah. OK.**"

We both stood up. I gave him a quick hug. He seemed to like it.

"**Again, why did you do that for?**" he asked.

"Just something to make you feel better," I said turning around to go. "Let's head back to the others. They are wondering where you are right n-"

My voice dropped when I heard Wolfgang growling.

"Oh no…" I thought.

I turned around. I saw Wolfgang growling and holding onto his head in pain.

"**N-no…n…not…again…**" he said through growls.

"Wolfgang?" I said.

Wolfgang looked up at me. His eyes were glowing purple. He had an angry expression on his face.

I quickly put my hand in front of me and I let my eyes glow.

"W…Wolfgang…" I said. "Calm dow-"

I was cut off when Wolfgang roared. My hand would have been bitten off clean if I didn't quickly move my hand away. He failed to bite me and swung his claws at me.

"Wolfgang!" I said, my eyes still glowing. "Calm down! C'mon. Please!"

Wolfgang didn't hear me. His only reply was punching me in the face. I fell on the floor startled and my glasses fell off. I saw the black wolf ready to pounce and I quickly moved to the side. I stood up and saw Wolfgang hitting the floor face-first.

"Wolfgang!" I said putting my glasses back on. "Stop it! This isn't you!"

Wolfgang just growled. He looked at me and on fours, lunged at me. I quickly dodged and he uselessly smashed into cardboard boxes.

Much to my surprise, Wolfgang quickly got up and attempted to punch me. I quickly crossed my arms over my chest in a defense mode. He punched me several times, but my hands were able to prevent him from punching my face. During this, I noticed something different about his eyes. The sclera didn't have its normal white color. I noticed that it looked…dark. It was grey…nearly black.

"Dark Gaia took control of Wolfgang," I thought. "But this…it seems that…"

I snapped out from thought when Wolfgang attempted to kick me. I quickly moved backwards. Wolfgang did another punch, but I quickly grabbed his flying fist. I was already getting frustrated and I couldn't stand the fight for long..

"This…ends…now," I said slightly agitated. "Please stop."

Wolfgang remained hostile and this time kicked me in the face. I hit the ground.

THUD!

"Ow!" I groaned. I quickly stood up and was about to use my powers. "Wolfgang! I don't want to-"

All of a sudden, I saw Wolfgang's sharp claws in front of me. Instantly, I closed my eyes. I felt the pain of Wolfgang slashing his claws into my left eye. Yes, I did close my eyes, but it caused a long slash across my eyelid and face. My glasses went flying. I fell down onto the ground.

I slowly sat up. The first thing I did was touch the part where Wolfgang scratched me with my right hand. When I opened my eyes, I looked at my right hand, the glove had a little spot of red. I couldn't believe it.

I got a scar on my face.

Just like how it happened to Clay on his left arm, I got a permanent scar. As I stood up, I failed to notice that Wolfgang was about to do another scratch. I quickly realized that and moved backwards. At this, I saw in front of me was the necklace.

And Wolfgang slashed it.

As if everything was in slow motion, I watched as his claws slashed through the necklace. This caused it to break into half. When everything went back to normal, I saw on the ground was the broken necklace; cracked into two parts.

I couldn't believe it. I stared at the broken necklace. That was one thing I cared about. My necklace. Clay's necklace. OUR necklace. The necklace that he made as a present for me. It was the one thing that made me always remembered how he cared for me. The only thing that made me feel happy when Clay was not around. The only thing that could make me feel that Clay was alright.

Now, it was gone.

I felt myself shaking. No. How dare Wolfgang destroyed my necklace. I saw RED. My hands clenched into fists. My sharp teeth gritted. I felt the claws in my hands extending out. And just like Wolfgang…I went feral.

"**GGGGGGGGRAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!**"

Angrily, I punched Wolfgang in the face. The black wolf replied with a growl. But I didn't care. I was too mad. I kept on punching him, jumping up and kicking him in the face.

BOOM!

Wolfgang fell onto the ground. I was about to stomp on him with my right boot when I felt two hands grabbing my arms.

"BELT!" said the voice of Bubblegum. "STOP RIGHT NOW!

I stopped. I looked behind to see Bubblegum stopping me from killing Wolfgang. Apparently, she came to check on us and saw the whole thing.

We both were groaning. I saw Wolfgang looking up; this time, his eyes returned to its normal red colour.

"**W…what…what just happened?**" he said as he got up, bruised.

"Well-" Bubblegum said, but I cut her off.

"Y…" I said feeling anger rising through my throat. "**YOU!**"

"**Belt?**" said Wolfgang. "**What are y-**"

"**Do you think it's cool to just scratch me and destroy THIS?!**" I barked holding the broken necklace in front of him.

Wolfgang gasped seeing it.

"**B-But…I didn't mean to-!**" stuttered Wolfgang.

I was too angry to understand him. I bared my sharp teeth and let out a roar.

"**YOU JERK! YOU NEARLY GOT ME KILLED AGAIN! DO YOU WANNA KILL YOUR FRIENDS?! YOU THINK THAT'S WHAT PEOPLE DO?! MURDER AND MAKE PEOPLE HURT JUST BECAUSE OF YOU?!" **I screamed through tears.

"**B-Belt. It wasn't-**"

"**J-just go! I don't want to see your face ever again! I'm done with you!**"

This just got Wolfgang upset.

"**WHAT?! B-BUT YOU CAN'T! It was Dark Gaia who controlled me!**" bawled Wolfgang.

"I. DON'T. **CARE!**" I growled.

"**Y…y-you only did this for your own SAFETY! After all the kindness I gave you, you are blaming ME for what I did?!**" snarled Wolfgang. Suddenly, his anger disappeared and started to have self-doubt. "**B…but maybe…I'm not good enough…maybe I shouldn't exist.**"

OK. When Wolfgang said THAT, my anger slipped away. I was quite…shocked to hear that. For the second time today, Wolfgang growled again and hold onto his head.

"W-Wolfgang?" said Bubblegum.

"**J-just…leave me alone…**" he said through gritted teeth.

"Wolfgang…" I said, trailing off.

"**J…just STAY AWAY FROM ME!**"

I guess he couldn't take the pressure of how tense this situation was so he started to back away, deeper into the alley. He then broke into a run.

"Where are you going?" called out Bubblegum.

"**Wherever you're NOT!**" said Wolfgang in a mixture of fear and anger.

"Wait! But…" I said.

"**JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!**" the black wolf screamed. "**I'm…I'm just a bad demon. I think I shouldn't be with you guys anymore…**"

"NO! WAIT!" shouted Bubblegum.

Wolfgang didn't listen. He groaned one more time, before running off. Then, he turned into a dark shadow and disappeared around the corner.

It was silence for a while. For once, I realised what I was doing wrong. I was so angry that I didn't notice that I had upset him. Slowly, I put my glasses back on.

"Hey," said Bubblegum.

I turned around to meet her fist flying into my face. Unlike what Wolfgang did, she punched me in the glasses.

CRACK!

The glasses cracked, but it didn't completely break. I could only stare at Bubblegum in shock.

"You're lucky I choose not to rip that glasses into pieces," she said darkly. "You blew it, man."

"Blew what to be precise?" I said.

"You just think you could just upset Wolfgang all because of THAT NECKLACE?!" she snarled snatching the broken necklace out of my hands and showing it in front of my eyes.

"I…I-" I stuttered. "That thing…means a lot to me."

"But that didn't mean you could just take revenge on Wolfgang for breaking it," said Bubblegum giving it back. "I know how much it meant to you, but…I don't think it was right to insult him."

"Oh, really?" I said grimly. "Well, I heard you did the same to Clay before."

"Just because I made Clay feel bad DOESN'T mean you get to the same to others," said Bubblegum raising a finger at me. "I already learnt my mistake and now you did too. Wolfgang didn't mean to hurt you like that. You know that he's partly under control of the Dark Gaia. You care about him. He cares about you! He cares about us and the whole freaking mission!"

I felt guilty in my stomach. Bubblegum was right.

"And also…I think that…" Bubblegum trailed off. I saw that there were tears in her eyes.

Again, she got frustrated. She tried to say something but stuttered. She held her hand onto her head again; showing signs of frustration before shaking her head.

"I…sorry…it's…it's nothing…"

I noticed that now SHE was upset. "Bu-"

"Just leave it. Why does it matter now…sorry about the glasses anyway…" she growled, turning her back and headed back to the hotel.

I just stood there watching her went back to the entrance.

"I'm…I'm sorry," I said.

Bubblegum stopped. She didn't make a sound or continue walking. It felt as if hours were quickly passing by. Finally, she said this;

"I accept your apology…but…you should say that to someone else."

At this, she went in. I was all by myself, standing outside the alley. Looking down, I saw the broken necklace in my hands.

My necklace.

The only thing that made me feel comfortable when Clay was not around. The only thing that made me know that he was OK.

But now, it was gone.

I remembered what Wolfgang did to it, but…he didn't break it on PURPOSE. I remembered when he woke up and had that regret look in his eyes. He didn't mean to hurt me. He was under the control of Dark Gaia.

I felt bad. I realized that I took things for granted too fast.

With the same suspicion I had with Wolfgang the first time, I quickly assumed that he was a monster. Just like how Bubblegum yelled at Clay during the Infinite War, I yelled at Wolfgang.

This wasn't what I wanted. I didn't want Wolfgang to run away. I…I was just upset about my broken necklace.

I started to walk back into the hotel. Just before I went in, I caught a reflection of myself in the window; there was a large red scar running through my face on my left eye. It was bleeding, but luckily it was not losing too much blood. I saw droplets of blood running down the scratch.

I was thinking of healing it with my powers, but…for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I had one thing in my mind.

I DESERVED it.

* * *

**7 pm**

It was silent when I got back to the hotel room. The scar stopped bleeding, but I didn't care. I just laid down on the bed, making no sound. I felt bad about my decision towards Wolfgang. I had already told the others what happened, yet it didn't remove my guilt.

Besides, remember what Bubblegum said to me before?

"_Spoken like a Resistance soldier._"

I was starting to doubt myself. I was no soldier nor a hero. I messed up big time. I was stuck in this huge maze and I couldn't find my own strength to get out.

"I'm a failure," I thought.

"Are you OK?" asked Chip as he and Sonic came up to me.

"Just leave it," I said turning to the side.

"C'mon," said Sonic. "We knew about what happened, but you couldn't keep yourself away from us."

"I SAID; Just. Leave. It. It wouldn't matter right now."

I heard Sonic sighed. "You know you can't hide it. You remembered how Clay kept his feelings to himself during the Infinite War, you know? If you ended up like him during that time, you would want to take it back."

I sighed. There was no point arguing about it. "OK. It's just that…I'm sorry for all the negative things I've said. I didn't mean to question your bravery or knowledge that time in Egypt. I'm sorry for upsetting Wolfgang just now. I'm sorry for going off-course. Whatever it is…whatever it is…forgive me…I always thought I know what to do…but I'm not sure what to do…I'm not like a good hero like you or the Black Squad all together."

I felt Chip putting his tiny hand on my shoulder. "You're not a GOOD hero…you're an AWESOME hero. You care for others and you have cool powers!"

"Likewise," said Sonic. "Not all heroes are perfect. They even learn from mistakes. Like I said, I'm NOT infallible. I know you hurt Wolfgang because you're shallow, but sometimes, you just can't help it. Like some people, you need to learn to control your temper. But what can I say; Life IS tough, buddy."

I got up. "Do you think…that Wolfgang would accept my apology…?"

Sonic looked at me with a smile. "I think he would."

Chip offered me a chocolate bar. "Want some chocolate?

"No thanks," I said. "I just need some time. Give me a while."

* * *

**Third Person's POV**

Away from the conversation, Bubblegum and Mecha hid themselves in the bathroom to discuss about Wolfgang's origins and the situation. Bubblegum was really upset of what happened. She nearly broke into tears. Mecha was doing his best to calm her down.

"This is bad…" said Bubblegum wiping some tears. "Just when we concluded that Wolfgang must be my father, he's already gone."

"Yeah…" said Mecha. "I wish that we said that to him already."

Bubblegum looked down. Mecha placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey," said the bird. "When all of this is over, we'll find Wolfgang. I promise."

"But…" said Bubblegum. "I'm not sure if we can find him. Even if we DID, he still might not remember and he might be under the control of Dark Gaia by now."

"There must be a way to find Wolfgang!" said Mecha slamming his left fist into his right palm. "We need to find a way to drain that darkness that makes him into that current state."

"But how?"

For some reason, Mecha felt something perching on his hair feathers. He looked at the mirror to see that Ash's Chao was using them as a resting place.

"Chao!" it said happily.

Annoyed, Mecha spun his hair feathers and the Chao came off.

"Don't pluck my feathers…" said Mecha annoyed at the Chao.

That was when he and Bubblegum noticed Ash opening the door.

"Hey guys!" he said. "I got an email from the lottery company. I got the results so there is a possibility that we might win the 20 and a half million dollars. Come out so that we could all see the results."

Bubblegum looked at Mecha. "We will discuss about Wolfgang later."

The two came out of the bathroom and Ash made his way to the middle of the room so that everyone could see him.

"OK," he said as his Chao perched onto his hat. "I've got the results here. If we get the money, we can use it to buy that last Daynight piece. Cross your fingers, guys."

Drumroll please. Ash did a dramatic pause before turning on his phone and pressed onto the unread email he received.

"And the outcome issssssss…" said Ash looking at the email. And then…his eyes widened up. "WWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTT?!"

From outside – even far from the city – you could hear this;

"**ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!**"

"What is it?" said Chip.

Ash looked at the email again with a shocked look.

"You have come in 234th place…" he read slowly. "You won 3 cents…please collect your award at your nearby lottery shop…"

It was silence. Everyone looked at each other dumbfounded.

"What?" said Belt breaking the silence.

"Do you guys have any money that can buy the Daynight piece?" asked Ash.

Belt and Bubblegum looked at Mecha. Maybe…

"Don't look at me guys," said Mecha. "I may be rich, but I only have less than a million dollars in my bank account."

"Gah…" said Bubblegum trying to think of a solution. "Well that was rubbish…"

"…I guess that's just the pickle…" said Ash. Suddenly, his phone ring. "Excuse me, guys."

He answered the call. "Hello. Oh. Right. Don't worry. I'll be coming."

He turned off his phone. "I got to go guys. The rest of my squad is waiting for me at the museum. We can discuss about how to get that Daynight piece later."

He started to walk to the door. Just before he could close it, he turned around and said "I will allow you to stay here for the night. We will think of something tomorrow. See you later."

He closed the door. Everybody looked at each other.

"Well looks like we won't be able to get the last piece…" said Belt grimly.

"We still need to get it," said Sonic. "It's the only thing to defeat the Dark Gaia and stops its rampage."

"But how?" said Chip.

An idea quickly came up in Mecha's mind.

"Guys," said Mecha. "I guess we have no other safe choice."

* * *

**Orchard Kunst Museum, 7:32 pm**

The museum where the Daynight piece was AND where the Yellow Squad was going to patrol was the Orchard Kunst Museum. It didn't take that long for Bubblegum and Mecha to find it. They decided to go there by themselves, leaving the others behind because 1) Chip was nervous to attempt the crime, 2) Belt wasn't in the mood to do it and 3) Sonic decided to watch the two.

"You still think this is a good idea?" whispered Bubblegum as they looked at the entrance of the museum.

"Well look who's talking, Miss Police," said Mecha. "It's going to be a quick grab and go. It's not like we wanted to grab the other items for money."

"Whatever you say, Mr Smarty Pants…"

Meanwhile in a meeting room, Ash and his squad all met up together.

"Ten hut!" Ash said in this badly soldier accent. "I will NOT tolerate failure on my team. We all know that this is the grand opening of Orchard Kunst Museum. This museum is very special because of its magnificent and valuable artefacts. Our job is to keep watch of every room from 11 am to 8 am. I will allocate all of you to watch your specific rooms while I will check the cameras to ensure all the rooms are safe. There are about 100 rooms and two levels, so I will give you the location of where to be."

Ash turned his eyes to a brown female bear wearing a Pilot's jacket. "Mandy, I want you to take guard of the Abstract Art Gallery on Level 2."

Mandy nodded her head.

Ash looked at a black male dog wearing a yellow half-face racing helmet with a gold visor. "Jayden, I want you to watch over the Magnificent Gems Showcase on Level 1."

"Right!" said Jayden strictly.

Ash stared at a white male tiger. "Blizzard. I want you to go over the Dawn of Dinosaurs Room on Level 2."

"You got that, boss!" said Blizzard positively.

Ash moved to a neon yellow male rabbit wearing a black bandanna. "Tyler. I want you to make sure that nobody enters the Film-Making Madness Room on Level 1."

"Y-y-yes, s-sir," stuttered Tyler nervously.

Ash turned his back on the squad, but he is still talking. "Finally, Joey. I want you to move around in the Body Treatment Room and stop anyone who dares to enter."

Hearing this, a lazy purple male hedgehog wearing a red headband woke up from his slumber upon hearing his name. "Huh? What did he said?"

Tyler whispered to Joey about his job…yet the latter was still clueless

Ash took no notice of that. "If you encounter a thief, first, do not approach them. You call the authorities or the guards. Call the police if necessary. Second, to stop those thieves or if you bumped into one LITERALLY, use your Lightning Wispon to zap them. Remember; they are modified and it's unlike the normal ones we use for fighting. These ones will act like Tasers and when you hit your target, they will be unconscious for at least 1 hour. Be aware of your surroundings. The cameras may secure the entire place, but that doesn't underestimate the suspect. They might be a clever – or even worse; a DANGEROUS – thief. Keep your eyes and ears peeled at all cost. Are we clear?"

"Gotcha!" said Mandy saluting.

"On your word!" said Jayden with a stern look.

"We'll do you proud!" said Blizzard smirking.

"I'll try…" said Tyler feeling a bit scared.

Joey just shrugged. "Nope!"

Ash face palmed himself and muttered to himself; "Oh my freaking cod…anyway, you are all dismissed!"

"Chao!" said Ash's Chao.

They all went out of the meeting room and into the public. As they separated to do their own things, Blizzard came up to Ash.

"Well tonight is going to be fun," he said.

Ash chuckled with the same smirk as Blizzard. "Yeah, it would be dude."

"Question though," said Blizzard. "What happen IF there is a thief AND if they get away?"

"Chao?" said Ash's Chao.

"Well," said Ash with a confident smile. "Whoever that is, we have to be the best of the best. We're from the Resistance. We already went through that stupid war so we could do this with ease."

At this, the two noticed Bubblegum and Mecah outside; the pink cat waving and the turquoise bird gesturing Ash to have a word with them.

"Say," said Blizzard. "Aren't they from Black Squad?"

"Yeah…" said Ash, realising that they weren't going to let the Daynight piece go.

"Why are they here?"

"Ah. Just on vacation…blah, blah, blah. Nothing important," said Ash – knowing that Blizzard wouldn't believe him if he told the truth – walking towards the exit. "I'll be right back."

Ash went outside to meet the two. "You two can't help it, can you? Did you have the money for the piece?"

"No…but we need a favor from you," said Bubblegum nervously.

"And it is…?" said Ash raising an eyebrow.

"We need your help to get us in and grab that Daynight piece," said Mecha.

Ash's eyes widened. Even his Chao looked surprised. "You mean…?"

Bubblegum looked down in shame. Mecha nodded his head firmly.

Ash shook his head in disgust. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea, dudes. I get it. You need it to complete some diamond, but trust me; not even the most desperate idiots would ever attempt a theft. You might as well get tossed into jail. Besides, you could just sign up for another lottery…well at least when you're older."

"But we haven't got that much time left!" said Mecha getting impatient. "Don't you see? It could be all over by then. We need the last Daynight piece to stop Dark Gaia. If we don't, the world will be doomed. We don't know what it will bring to everyone on this planet!"

Ash's disgusted expression changed to a sympathetic one. "I see. Funny thing, I'm tempted to get that Daynight piece as well! I will help you, guys."

"Really?" said Bubblegum unsure.

"Thank you, buddy," said Mecha.

"On ONE condition; if we get caught…you know what I will be DOING," said Ash mischievously looking at Mecha's hair feathers.

Mecha quickly realized what the black bird meant. Bubblegum couldn't help but let out a nervous laugh. Ash's Chao cooed in confusion.

"No," said Mecha angrily. "You won't pluck my feathers."

"Moving on," said Ash quickly changing the subject. "Now. What's the plan?

* * *

**8:00 pm**

It was 8 o' clock. That was the time the museum and the Yellow Squad's night shift start. Bubblegum, Mecha and Ash already got into plan. The first step was to get Jayden not be near Bubblegum and Mecha.

"_Jayden!_" called Ash from the security room to Jayden's headset.

"Yes, boss?" said Jayden as he leaned on the wall near the entrance of the Magnificent Gems Showcase.

"_Change of plan for you tonight,_" said Ash. "_I would like you to join Tyler and take care of the room he is in._"

"Really?" said Jayden slightly annoyed at the change. "Do I have to?"

"_Just do it. And don't worry. I'll keep an eye on the cameras to check the room._"

Jayden sighed. "OK."

At this, he walked off to find Tyler. Meanwhile in the security room, Bubblegum, Mecha and Ash watched the monitors as the black dog disappeared from the room.

"Alright!" said Ash. "We got him out of the way!"

"So what's next?" said Bubblegum.

"The Daynight piece is in the middle of the room. You will have to go through the vents to get to the room. Meanwhile, I'll hack the monitor into tricking that everything is going alright. They won't be able to see you stealing it. Such a pity that the museum is going to put up a hacker-free system NEXT WEEK."

"Let's go!" said Mecha starting to go into the vent.

"Hey! Wait up!" said Bubblegum following him.

Ash sat in his seat and got onto his phone. Within minutes, he quickly hacked the monitor checking at the gem showcase. The monitor showed a remote and peaceful image of the dark room. Now, it wouldn't show that the duo would go in.

"The perfect crime," said Ash leaning on his chair. "Welp, while these two get that diamond, I'm going to have my free time."

He brought out a tablet computer, clicked on an online game and started to play…unaware that it was his biggest mistake.

On the other side, Bubblegum and Mecha were going through the vents.

"Geez!" said Bubblegum. "This place is so narrow and cramped!"

"At least it was better than going through the sewers back in Melbourne," said Mecha matter-of-factly.

"We went through this before. Good thing we are small."

They finally came to a stop.

"There's the room," said Bubblegum as she peered through the vent door to see the gem showcase. "We made it."

With no pressure, she opened the vent door and Mecha and she came out. The room consisted of many precious gems, all kept in glass cubes on many rows of white tall tables. Each of them had small plagues with descriptions about them.

"Amethyst…sapphire…jade…turquoise…opal…peridot…musgravite?" said Mecha as he looked at the rocks without looking at the plagues. "Those gems cost more than THIRTY FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS!"

"No wonder why the museum is so gigantic," said Bubblegum. "Let's just find the Daynight piece and get the heck out of here."

"Ash said that it's in the middle of the room," said Mecha. "It should be there."

They started to go through the shelves of gems. Bubblegum kept a lookout in case anyone was coming in or if the Daynight piece was actually in one of these cubes.

"Beth!" said Mecha nudging Bubblegum in the shoulder. "There it is!"

He was pointing at a large shelf of gems that sat in the middle of the room.

"I don't see it," said Bubblegum.

"Probably it's on the other side of that bookshelf," said Mecha.

They started to head over to that large display. Mecha was the first to check the shelf on the other side.

"Here's Mecha!" the turquoise bird squawked as he appeared in front of the Daynight piece.

Or at least what he thought.

What he saw was – supposed to be a glowing white diamond piece with a green aura – a white scrunched-up ball of paper in replacement to the said object. And oh, the glass was broken.

If Mecha's beak could open wider, it would. He looked at the shelf again, wondering if the Daynight piece was above, below or on the sides. But no.

THE DAYNIGHT PIECE WAS MISSING.

Mecha's eye twitched

"Nani?!" he choked out.

"What is it?" said Bubblegum.

"T-t-the Daynight piece!" sputtered Mecha. "It's GONE!"

Bubblegum's eyes went wide. "And that glass…that means…"

That thought dreaded the duo. They looked at each other.

"Oh no," they both said in unison.

Upstairs, a human thief wearing a black mouth bandanna grabbed a small golden statue and placed it into his bag of stolen goods.

"Ha ha!" he said in his head. "This is so easy. Good thing I chose to wear dark clothes so that I could sneak into this place. With this, I will be able to make enough money!"

He snickered at this thought and looked up…

…to see a rather surprised Mandy staring at him with wide eyes. She wasn't moving. Apparently, she went off to get a burger to eat – which was in her hand – and she saw the thief.

It was silence for a while…until Mandy swallowed the mouthful of meat in her mouth. She quickly dropped her burger and pulled out her Wispon.

"Argh!" said the thief quickly jumping to the side.

The electrical lightning uselessly hit the ground.

"GET BACK HERE!" screamed Mandy chasing the thief. She quickly got out her phone and contacted Ash. "WE GOT A THIEF IN HERE!"

However, Ash wasn't listening. He was so focused on his online battle royale game that he failed to notice his phone was ringing.

"Chao!" said Ash's Chao hitting him on the head. "Chao!"

"Not now," said Ash stubbornly. "I'm about to win this battle!"

Frustrated, the Chao slammed the computer screen onto the keyboard. Then he pushed Ash's head to face the monitors; one of them showing a thief running through a hallway.

"WHAT?!" exclaimed Ash, realizing his mistake. He quickly grabbed his headset and yelled into it.

"YELLOW SQUAD! WE GOT A THIEF RUNNING THROUGH HALLWAY #7! STOP HIM!"

He then slammed the alert button and contacted 9-1-1.

Back with Bubblegum and Mecha, they heard the loud siren. Flashing red lights covered the room.

"Ugh! Just when we were close, somebody decided to mess THAT UP!" growled Bubblegum.

"A greater force we couldn't resist," groaned Mecha.

Suddenly, they heard a man yelling; "YOU WILL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE! ARGGHHHH!"

They turned to see the person running through the hallway was the thief.

The latter was running without any sense of knowing where to go. The only place he was trying to get to is the exit.

"STAHP RIT TERE!" yelled Jayden as he, Tyler and Blizzard came in front of him, blocking his path.

They pressed the triggers of their Wispons and lightning bolts came out of the mouth. They flew towards the thief in a speed that was faster than light. However, the thief was agile. Just before the electricity hit his body, the burglar quickly jumped and did acrobatic somersaults – avoiding the lightning bolts. When he got through the lightning, he quickly did a roundhouse kick, knocking Jayden, Tyler and Blizzard out.

Jumping over them, he quickly made his way out of the entrance. He ran as fast as he could away from the museum. However, a policeman caught him running on the road. This pretty much ticked him off. Not for the crime of stealing but for the crime of…

"JAYWALKING!" screamed the cop.

Back inside, Ash made his way to the entrance of the museum. He watched as the thief quickly got into a getaway car and drove off.

"Darn," he said.

At this, Bubblegum and Mecha bumped into him.

"Guys!" Ash said.

"Was that a criminal?" asked Mecha.

"Must be."

Bubblegum groaned. "That guy must have stolen the Daynight piece! No wonder why it was missing from the showcase!"

"Well, I already called the cops," said Ash. "They would also send in the G.U.N patrol forces to stop that criminal. If you want to get the Daynight piece before THEY do, you have to catch that man first."

"OK then," said Bubblegum. "See you later."

"Yeah. Tweet tweet!" said Mecha as he and Bubblegum broke into a run, chasing after the thief.

As Ash watched the duo ran along the road and disappeared from his site, his face turned into a disgusted expression.

"Chao?" said his Chao that sat on his shoulder.

"Well, buddy…" said Ash looking at his little pet. "I've done all I can…"

NEWS TIME! We're live today where there is a criminal who stole a bag of valuable items from Orchard Kunst Museum. He is on the run now – driving down the streets at 90 km/h – with a group of police cars and G.U.N. military trucks chasing after him.

"STOP BREAKING THE LAW AND TURN OVER!" screamed a cop from the leading car.

"No way! How about you suck my nose?" taunted the thief.

The military trucks started to shoot bullets and missiles at the thief, but the thief was too good. He did many drifts and dodges to avoid the shots. He even drifted on 2 WHEELS!

"Ha!" he mocked. "Is that all you got?"

He started to gain speed and started to lose the cops. However, one lucky police car was able to catch up.

"How are we going to stop him?" said the driver.

"I say that we use the little guy," said the cop next to the driver.

"WHAT?! Is that really a good idea?"

"JUST DO IT! This time, we will end this!"

The cop got out a small non-anthropomorphic crazed chipmunk from a cardboard box. He opened the window and went through it until his waist.

"Go, go crazy chipmunk!" he sang badly before throwing the small creature.

"BUY ME MORE JEWELLERY!" said the crazy chipmunk in a raspy girl-like way.

Luckily, the chipmunk was able to hit the thief's car. Unluckily – for the thief anyway – his car didn't have a roof…or windows for that matter. The crazy chipmunk landed onto the criminal and it started to attack the thief – like a PSYCHO.

"OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHGETITOFFGETITOFF!" screamed the thief as he desperately tried to pull the insane critter off his face.

To no avail, the thief continued to drive blindly. The car was swerving side to side. It was as if it was going on insane autopilot. At one point, the car turned to the left, hiding itself from the cops. Because the thief couldn't see properly, the car crashed into an electrical line pole. The pole was fine…but not the car.

As soon as the car hit the pole, the engine exploded. The thief was lucky that he was wearing a seat-belt or he would be flying through the air. He quickly ripped the crazy chipmunk off, grabbed his bag and got out. As soon as he placed his feet on the pavement, he ran towards a nearby dark alley.

"Phew!" said the thief as he started to turn around. "Where am I going to-?"

SOCK!

He was cut off when he was punched in the face by Bubblegum. And just like that, he passed out.

"That was one killer punch!" said Mecha who was behind Bubblegum.

The pink cat picked up the bag and quickly found the Daynight piece.

"There it is," said Bubblegum pulling out the glowing gem.

Nearby, sirens could be heard.

"Let's go," said Mecha. "We can't stay here any longer."

The cops stopped by where the thief's car crashed. The cops came out of their cars and started to investigate the place where the thief was. One of them spotted the unconscious body of that criminal in the dark alley.

And next to him was the bag of stolen goods…all without the Daynight piece.

* * *

**AN: Well that was close. Good thing you two didn't get arrested by the fuzz.**

**For this chapter, I introduced a new character named Ash. Last year, I asked a friend of mine to create an OC for me. He did one, but only with little information, so I decided to make the appearance of Ash and use some of my friend's characteristics to make the new bird. But hey. Clay takes the avatar of me and Belt is inspired by my older brother. I didn't put Ash in Dark Wolf Begins as this idea just pops up in my head after I finished the story. Hopefully, I can flesh out Ash more along with telling how...he 'cut' Mecha's feathers. To my friend, I hope you like your OC involved in this chapter. **

**I put in a reference from the asdf movies. Anyone who finds the joke gets a free imaginary chili dog!**

**It appears that tension is rising between Belt and Wolfgang. How will this be fixed?**

**That's all for today. If you like this story: follow or favorite this story for updates of the story. Make sure to review this chapter on what you thought of this story. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).**

**Until next time, see you all in the next chapter next Monday for the final battle!**


	9. Light and Dark

**AN: I'm back! Here's the next chapter for this story! Hope you enjoy the final battle.**

* * *

**Chapter 9 – Light and Dark**

**Belt's POV, Outside New York (at 8:47 pm)**

Sonic, Chip and I were waiting for Mecha and Chip near a forest. They were taking a long time to get that Daynight piece and I was worried that they might get caught by the fuzz. I would have joined them, but I was still in a cruddy mood. I couldn't forget about the things I said to Wolfgang.

"Where are these two?" said Sonic.

"Maybe they got caught!" said Chip in concern. "We should help them!"

"I think they will be fine. They said they could handle it."

I didn't join the conversation. I was just sitting on a tree stump behind them.

"YO!" called Mecha's voice. "We're back!"

I looked up to see Bubblegum and Mecha coming towards us.

"What took you so long?" said Sonic.

"There was another thief at the museum," explained Bubblegum. "We had to catch that guy to get the Daynight piece."

At this, she took out the diamond piece. I took out the other piece I had. The single-piece Bubblegum quickly flew and reattached itself to the other one I had in my hand. With this, the diamond was completed.

All pieces in one.

"We got all the pieces," said Sonic happily. "You know what to do with it, right Chip?"

"Yes," said Chip coming towards me. "I'll take it from here."

I made no reply. I didn't even let Chip take the diamond in my hand. I just stared at the glowing object, feeling lost.

"A…are you OK?" said Chip.

I quickly snapped out of thought. "S-sorry! I guess…"

"You're still thinking about the fight you got into with Wolfgang, aren't you?"

"Yeah…" I said. "Couldn't get that out of my head…"

Chip took the diamond piece from my hand.

"Um…guys…" said Bubblegum. "Once we use it to prevent Dark Gaia's destruction…I would like to find Wolfgang."

"I'm not sure about it," said Chip. "From what I heard from Belt, he's about to be under intact control of the Dark Gaia. It seems that the light in him is…about to go out. He's starting to lose his will."

"But we must find him! I – I mean – we all know about his origins, but…I think he…isn't just a Dark Gaia minion…"

I tilted my head. "What is it?"

Bubblegum hesitated.

"Bubblegum and I think that Wolfgang may be Bubblegum's long-lost father," said Mecha flatly, crossing his arms.

OK. What he said was UNEXPECTED. Chip was confused. Sonic looked surprised. I was…well…speechless.

"What?" I said.

Bubblegum gave Mecha a look before sighing. "Well secret's out already."

Sonic shook his head. "How come you believe that? According to Clay, your father died long ago."

"Yeah, but what if Wolfgang is actually my father the whole time?" said Bubblegum.

"How can you prove that?" I said.

"Well I explained to you about my father; he's strong, scatterbrain and he has a heart of gold. He has a fear of water and always feels guilty of his mistakes. Wolfgang is like that. We saw his actions."

"What we thought was that he must have survived from falling in a deep ravine and been cursed by that Dark Gaia energy, causing him to change," explained Mecha. "Bubblegum and I recognised his voice even though it's more like a growl. Also, we also noticed that when we first met him, he was wearing black gloves with spikes and black shoes; the clothes he wore before his 'death'."

"Wait a minute," said Bubblegum looking at Chip. "Chip. Around the time when you bumped into Wolfgang four years ago, did you see a…black police vest with a golden badge on it?"

Chip thought for a while. "I believe I did. I think that a few days before the incident, I saw a black police best lying on the ground. I looked at it to investigate and saw a golden badge and an ID card that reads 'Eddie Lehem'."

I gulped.

Bubblegum's father's name was Eddie Lehem.

I was astonished by this, meanwhile, both Bubblegum and Mecha looked shocked to hear this.

"What?!" said Sonic.

"Eddie Lehem…" said Bubblegum slowly. "That's my father's name."

"So it's him the whole time!" said Mecha.

Suddenly, a tremor hit the ground so hard.

"What just happened?" I said.

And just like that, a large hole crumbled beneath us. I saw everyone including myself falling into a deep hole.

The last thing I remembered was Chip's yelling and a mysterious creature growling before I lost consciousness.

* * *

When I came around, I felt myself lying on rocky ground. I stood up. I looked around. I was dumbfounded.

I couldn't see ANYTHING.

There was no light. It was pitch dark. The worse part; for some reason, I couldn't see in the dark at that moment.

I heard groaning. It was Bubblegum.

"Ow…" she said. "What the…?"

"Bubblegum?" I said. "Is that you?"

"Yeah."

That was when I realised something; it was just the two of us.

"Where's Sonic?" I said. "Or Chip or Mecha?"

"I'm not sure…" said Bubblegum nervously.

A glow of green caught my eye. I looked down to see the Daynight diamond.

"It's here?" I said. "I thought that…"

I leaned down to grab it. Suddenly, a blow hit my head. I fell onto the floor in pain.

"Belt!" exclaimed Bubblegum.

"The heck was that?!" I said.

I looked up to see a pair of glowing purple pupils staring at me. At this, a dark hand grabbed the Daynight diamond and disappeared instantly.

"HEY!" I yelled.

"What the hell was that?!" said Bubblegum.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it got the Daynight diamond!" I said.

"It must be from Dark Gaia!" said Bubblegum. "We need to get that piece back! Can you see?"

"I can't!" I said. "For some reason, I can't see in the dark!"

"Great!" said Bubblegum. "This is just great."

I felt she grabbed on my right arm.

"Looks like we have to find that person without using our eyesight!" she said before breaking into a run.

Even though I hesitated, I forced myself to run with Bubblegum on my side. We didn't know where we were going, but we noted that we were going in the direction of where that creature went. Suddenly, the darkness quickly disappeared and I saw in front of us was a cliff.

"WHOA!" I screamed as I fell off the cliff.

If it wasn't for Sonic who was nearby, I would hadve fallen to my death. He quickly grabbed me and pulled me up.

"Sonic!" I said happily.

"Belt, where are the others?" he said.

"I'm not sure."

Bubblegum looked around. "Welpl…we're back in this place again."

I looked down from the cliff. Below was a large pool of magma. I looked around. We were in a large cavern with rivers of magma.

We were back underground.

A laugh could be heard behind us. We turned around to see Wolfgang, but this wasn't the person we knew. His eyes were purple and the sclera was completely black. It looked like he became immoral and emotionless. What was surprising was that the white stripes that were once on his arms were gone.

What surprised me more was that there was a large creature behind him. It was a gargantuan cobra-like creature. It had brown skin, two thin arms with long neon-blue claws, a wide head, two green eyes and dark tentacles.

"OK," I said. "That's…unpleasant."

At this, the now hypnotized Wolfgang laughed in mockery.

"You! Dark Gaia!" Sonic shouted in anger. "What did you do to him?"

The black wolf just laughed before giving an answer.

"**I am now taking control of his body,**" he said in which I think it was the Dark Gaia's 'voice'. "**As he is one of my creations, I got the power to control his body whenever I want to. I attempted this many times and now I took over his free will.**"

"So what do you know?" mumbled Sonic sarcastically. "He can talk."

"You monster!" I barked.

"**Just you wait,**" said the black wolf. "**Now with the Daynight piece, you won't be able to use to stop me. I will use my power to destroy this world and rebuild it in my own image, picking up what happened after I was defeated by you filthy blue rat! But first, I'm going to remodel you all and the darkness will take up everyone. And when I mean 'everyone', I meant every last person on Earth.**"

Hearing this, Sonic curled up his fists. "First thing, I'm not a rat. I'm a hedgehog! HEDGE-HOG! So you are going to change us like how you turned Wolfgang into this?!"

The black wolf's smirk turned into a frown. "**Excuse me?**"

"What he meant was 'just like how you turned MY FATHER into one of your flunkeys?!'" said Bubblegum angrily. "Do you need to hear that again?"

The black wolf looked surprised. "**Very good, kitten. Smarter than I thought.**"

So Bubblegum and Mecha were right all along. Wolfgang WAS Bubblegum's father. Eddie Lehem. Not just a creation from Dark Gaia. But instead, a person who got affected by the darkness and turned into a dark wolf. And by the look on Bubblegum's face, she couldn't believe it.

"How did you even find him anyway?" I said.

"**A few years ago, I saw his body in a deep cavern. He was hurt so badly and nearly on the brink of death. I decided to make him ONE OF US, but such a pity that his memories got blocked by the darkness. Enough chit chat. It's time I get rid of you once and for all. Then, you become like ME,**" said the black wolf coldly.

"Over my dead body!" said Sonic before charging towards the dark duo.

At this, the large deity swung one of its tentacles and slapped Sonic, causing him to fly into the air.

"SONIC!" cried Bubblegum.

Before I got the time to react, Dark Gaia sliced the cliff we were on with its hand. It caused a crack between me and Bubblegum. The platform I was on started to break and fell to the side.

"BELT!" exclaimed Bubblegum.

I tried to run back to where she was standing, but no luck. The cliff I was on collided with a nearby wall. I fell off and landed onto another platform near the magma badly.

"Ow!" I said.

I looked up to see the black wolf in front of me. Behind him, I saw the Dark Gaia going in the opposite direction; possibly chasing after the now-running Bubblegum.

"**Nowhere to hide, red dog!**" he hissed as he quickly made a sword made from shadows.

He slashed his sword at me, but I quickly grabbed my sword out in defence and our swords clashed together.

I quickly got up on my feet in an attack position. In a flash, the black wolf charged towards me. I quickly held up my sword in defence and our swords clashed once again. He was hitting me, but good thing I was able to block his attacks. At the moment, I used a power force wave that sent him flying. He fell on the ground. Even though he looked fine, something on his face revealed that he didn't LOOK FINE.

"**That was a big mistake,**" he said.

He stood up and attacked again. I was able to block his attack. Then, for some reason, he quickly took a few steps back. In a sonic-speed, he ran towards me, with his sword raised high. I quickly threw myself backwards and gave the black wolf a mid-air kick. This caused him to fly off and crashed on the rocky wall. He then fell down and hit the ground hard.

The black wolf raised his hand to his cheek and gently touched a red mark on it; it was the shape of my boot as a result of kicking him.

"**That was your SECOND big mistake,**" he growled menacingly.

Again, he stood up, charged and swung his sword at me. I used my sword to block his attacks. I had to change the position of my sword every time he attacked.

At one point, our swords clashed and I didn't notice that his free fist was flying towards my face.

WHAM!

I hit the ground and the sword I had, fell out of my hand. Before I even had the chance to breathe, the black wolf grabbed me by my vest collar and held his sword against my throat.

"**I got to say I'm pretty impressed of your swordsmanship,**" the black wolf said. "**But it's the end of the line right now.**"

"You will never get away with this!" I protested.

"**Oh really? And how do you propose to stop me? You or that puny Light Gaia don't have the Daynight diamond, your friends are in danger and you are about to die not to mention that when I take your life, I will make you one of mine.**"

My only response was to growl in anger. The black wolf smirked.

"**What are you going to do? You can't stop me. You can't save ANYONE. You couldn't even save your PARENTS.**"

I stopped growling and my expression changed to a shocked one. What did he just say?

"How did you-?" I stuttered.

"**You didn't know?**" said the black wolf. "**Not only I can control my minions, but I share the same mind with them as well. I saw that from Wolfgang's memory that you mentioned your parents' death. ALL BECAUSE OF YOU. How pathetic.**"

I gritted my teeth. "**Shut up…**"

"**Make me. But you couldn't do something about that NOW. You couldn't even save Wolfgang!**"

I gasped. Just like he said, I wasn't able to save Wolfgang. I felt guilt again. As I got into thought, I realized that if I didn't yell at him, he wouldn't have run away. He wouldn't have to suffer the consequences. He wouldn't have to be under control of the Dark Gaia. I bit my lips as I remembered what I said to him.

"_**J-just go! I don't want to see your face ever again! I'm done with you!**_"

Recalling this, I felt tears flowing from the tips of my eyes. I guessed that this was it. Because of my shallow mind, I didn't care to be there for Wolfgang. Like I failed my parents, I failed Wolfgang. And now that the world was going to be doomed soon, I failed everyone…including my brother Clay.

All because of me.

Some stupid red wolf…

…wearing stupid glasses…

…and had a stupid mind taking things for granted.

There was only one thing to do. One thing I hoped that might reach to the REAL Wolfgang.

"**What's wrong?**" sneered the black wolf as his sword was getting close to my throat. I could feel the shadows on my fur and skin. "**Forget how to speak? If you want to speak now, say your final words.**"

"Yes," I said giving the possessed wolf a firm look. "But not for YOU; Wolfgang – or to be precise, Eddie – if you can still hear me, listen to me. I know you are still here and I want to say that…I'm sorry for what I said…I took you for granted…I wasn't thinking straight…you didn't MEAN to attack me like this…I know that 'sorry' WON'T solve a million problems…but I just want to see you to be happier – just like I wanted MY brother to be! Even though I messed up, I won't forget the promise I made for you. Right now…I need your help…Sonic needs your help…Mecha needs your help…Chip needs your help…and I know this sounds crazy, but…Bubblegum – your only daughter who missed you a lot – needs your help as well! Show her what a true father you could be! Whether you are a norm or a demon."

My voice was cracking and I felt tears coming out from my eyes. The black wolf just stared at me with no emotion. He leaned forward, causing me to bend backwards.

"**Why would you say that to him? Your friend is no longer controlling this body and besides, why would you EVEN bother saying these words to a demon like him? Wasn't it you who called all gods and their workers STUPID?**"

I gulped. I remembered well of when we were in Egypt, I expressed my frustration that I blamed the Gods – or any God to be precise – for all the damage they caused to the world. Wolfgang must had allowed those words sink into his skin when I told him off. I knew the problem so I replied back.

"Not everyone agrees on the same thing…and I didn't referred to Wolfgang. Even if I DID, he shouldn't agree with me. We don't HAVE to share the SAME world views or the SAME opinions just to make things right. This is NOT how it works! It's not right! Listen, Wolfgang...hearing what other people's beliefs will hurt a little…who am I kidding, it's going to hurt a LOT. But we are going to be OK, just like how we are every time this kind of situation happen…see? No matter the problems we have or the stupid differences we have, you will always be my friend. Let me rephrase that again; you're one of my BEST friends in the world. It does not matter what you are SUPPOSED to be. What matters is that you can CHOOSE whoever you want to be. Even though Dark Gaia gaves you all of this, that doesn't mean you don't have your own will and heart! No matter what, you can choose your own path! No matter what, I will still help you when you have any problems!"

My words must have had caused a huge crack in the world, because the black wolf glared at me angrily. He was about to slit my throat when he started to groan and held onto his head.

Out of nowhere, a pair of black gloved hands grabbed him around his waist. That person pulled the black wolf away, allowing me to get up. I looked to see who it was. It was Mecha.

"Mecha!" I said, relieved to see him.

"Belt!" said Mecha as he struggled to keep his grip on the still hypnotized wolf. "Where were you the whole time?"

"I could have had asked the same question to you," I said. "Do you know where Chip is?"

"I don't know," said Mecha. "What I know NOW, is that Wolfgang is STILL under control."

I looked at the black wolf; his eyes were glitching from purple to red. Even the sclera were glitching from black to white.

"**ARGH!**" screamed the voice of Dark Gaia. "**Stop…trying…to RESIST ME! YOU CAN'T DO THIS!**"

In between growls, I noticed at one point when his eyes turned red, I could hear his normal voice.

"Please…help me…" he said.

I nodded and closed my eyes. I opened them up to reveal that they were now mint green; using my light powers. I bent down, placed my hand on his head and growled softly.

"Calm down now…" I said. "Take a deep breath…I know that things looks bad, but you have to stay calm…you have to hope…you need to be strong."

As I said that, I was able to soothe him down. I noticed that he was coming back to his normal state; his eyes were back to red and the sclera returned to white. The white stripes were back on his arms; the good light in the demon's heart. Seeing this, Mecha let Wolfgang go.

Wolfgang was able to get out of Dark Gaia's spell.

When he got back into reality, he was surprised. He looked around in wonder, a bit oblivious of what was happening. When he met my eyes, I said this;

"Hi, Wolfgang. I'm here."

Wolfgang stared at me with wide eyes. All of a sudden, he burst into tears hysterically and grabbed me in a bear hug.

"**BELT!**" he cried. "**I'M SO SO SORRY! I'M SORRY FOR ALL THE PAIN I GAVE TO YOU! I SHOULD NEVER ATTACK YOU LIKE THIS!**"

"It's OK," I said, putting my arms around him. "I forgive you."

"**But I…**" he sniffed. "**I made a lot of mistakes-**"

"You are not the only wolf who made a mistake. For example, my mistake; barking at the wrong person."

I let Wolfgang continued to cry on my shoulder. Feeling remorseful as well, I let out a few some tears though I didn't cry out loudly. As I heard him go went through tears, I remembered my promise I made to him.

"I promise you this, Wolfgang," I thought. "No matter what, I will NOT let go of that promise."

After a while, Wolfgang let go off me.

"Hate to break the moment, but there's are more problems we have to face," said Mecha. "Does anyone have the Daynight diamond?"

I looked at Wolfgang. "You still have it, don't you?"

"Me?" said Wolfgang, wiping his tears. He then took out the gem from his vest. "I have it here."

"We can't stay here longer," I said. "Let's go and-"

Before I could finished my sentence, I was hit by the flying body of Bubblegum. Even Sonic smashed into Mecha. We all fell down with Wolfgang still standing.

"Guys!" exclaimed Wolfgang.

Suddenly, one of Dark Gaia's tentacles grabbed him and lifted the black wolf in the air.

"**AHHH!**" screamed Wolfgang.

"Wolfgang!" I yelled.

"Dad!" cried Bubblegum.

Wolfgang was trying to break free, but he was making less effort. All of a sudden, his body started to…change. It was like he was going to perish. His body was rapidly turning into shadows.

"**Guys!**" he screamed before his whole body turned into shadows.

What remained of him was then loaded into Dark Gaia. I didn't see any remains of him.

Wolfgang was no more.

"Ah, #$%!" swore Bubblegum. **[1]**

She spotted a green glow on one of Dark Gaia's tentacles.

"There!" she said. "We have to get it and give to Chip."

"But how?" I said.

Suddenly, the large deity shot a large laser beam causing a large explosion. It blasted us in the air. I and Sonic and I flew on the right side and landed on a rocky platform.

THUD!

"OW!" I yelped.

"Geez! That hurt," said Sonic.

I looked up to see Bubblegum and Mecha falling through the air and disappeared behind a large rocky platform. The Dark Gaia turned its attention to us.

"Looks like it's just us," Sonic said.

"Right," I said grimly.

The large beast used one of its big tentacles to attack us. I quickly formed a force shield around me and Belt and me. However, as the tentacle came into contact with my shield, a large tremor shook the platform we were on. I nearly fell down.

"This day is just getting greater and greater…" I thought.

* * *

**Third Person's POV**

Bubblegum and Mecha landed on the left side; kilometers away from Sonic and Belt. They landed near a large rocky wall.

"Ow…" said Bubblegum.

"Crud," said Mecha. "This is crap."

They saw in the distance was the Dark Gaia. Having its back on them, it seemed to be going in the opposite direction.

"Oh no," said Bubblegum. "It's going after Sonic and Belt!"

"We have to help them!" said Mecha getting up.

Out of nowhere, a Dark Gaia minion roared in his face causing him to fall down again.

"What?!" said Bubblegum.

She looked around. They were surrounded by more Dark Gaia minions.

"This ain't good," said Bubblegum. The dark god must had made them to steer them away.

"C'mon!" said Mecha whipping out his Wispon. "We have to fight through them to get to Dark Gaia!"

Bubblegum whipped out her Void Wispon. She quickly dropped to one knee and spun in a fast circle; shooting many black holes to suck all the enemies in. She got rid of the first wave of minions around them.

"Hold on!" said Mecha grabbing her hand. He then pressed the trigger and his drill caused them to penetrate through the monsters at a fast pace.

The speed was effective. With the Wispon in control, they sped through the crowd with their feet not touching the ground. The cone also spiraled through the monsters, decimating them.

However, one of the larger Dark Gaia minions was able to smash in front of the speeding duo, causing them to stop and lose acceleration. They both fell down.

"For God's sake…" grumbled Bubblegum noticing that there were more Dark Gaia minions – this time, larger in size – surrounding them. "How many are there?!"

"Bubblegum!" exclaimed Mecha grabbing her hand.

This time, they just ran through another way. They punched and kicked their way through the gradually appearing monsters that popped up in front of them. They were too many enemies around them. They fought and survived the war before, so they were able to get through the nasty critters.

"Guess I have to get rid of them all!" said Mecha jumping into the air.

With the Wispon in his hand, he was able to fly through the air like a fast light, speeding and penetrating through all the monsters. His body was a blur of turquoise and yellow, and was flying all over the place like an out-of-control pinball in a pinball machine.

Finally, all the horrible critters were gone and Mecha landed perfectly. He looked at Bubblegum with his signature smirk.

"You had to do it, don't you?" said Bubblegum slightly annoyed by his showing-off.

All of a sudden, breaking through the ground was a Dark Moray.

"THAT'S A HUGE BIRD!" shrieked Mecha.

The large dragon/eel-like monster spat out a large frost ball, flying straight towards the unlucky duo.

"GET BACK!" exclaimed Bubblegum.

But it was too late for Mecha. As soon as the ice ball came in contact with the ground, it quickly caught Mecha's feet in ICE. This caught him by surprise that he dropped his Wispon. Bubblegum stared at Mecha's feet being caught in ice, then at the Dark Moray…

FLYING TOWARDS HER.

She noticed something black and shiny on the ground. It was two of Mecha's smoke bombs that must had fallen off his utility belt.

Thinking quickly, she grabbed the two small bombs and aimed one of them at the incoming dragon.

"DIE, LIZARD!" yelled Bubblegum.

She threw it at the Dark Moray which opened its mouth. The bomb flew inside the jaws just before the lips closed. And before the large creature knew it, it was too late. The bomb was really effective. So effective that it caused the whole beast to EXPLODE.

BOOM!

Bubblegum covered her eyes as bright lights and black powder burst out of the dragon. Dark shadows flew everywhere. When the explosion was done, Bubblegum opened her eyes. The Dark Moray was gone.

Mecha started to groan. Bubblegum looked at him and much to her dismay…there were purple clouds around his head.

"Oh dear…" Bubblegum thought. "Part of those shadows must have absorbed into him."

She got near the bird-in-pain and started to smash the ice – Mecha's feet were still stuck in it – with her spiked-soled shoes. However, the ice refused to break…or crack for that matter.

"What the?!" said Bubblegum desperately trying to break the ice. "How come it won't budge?"

"Uh…Bubblegum…" slurred Mecha. "I don't feel good…"

Bubblegum looked into Mecha's eyes. Like what he said, he didn't SEEM to be good. His eyes were turning…a shade of purple. There was a gradient of the natural hazel brown color and a dark eerie purple color.

"Something's not right," thought Bubblegum.

All of a sudden, a Dark Eel broke through the ground between her and Mecha. The pink cat screamed and fell down. The turquoise bird looked up; startled by the hideous large maggot.

Bubblegum looked up, seeing the Dark Eel about to attack. Before she even had time to whip out her Wispon, the evil snake did this; it opened its mouth and a large streak of dark shadows came out.

Then, they ENTERED MECHA'S BODY.

As the shadow energy started to infect the poor bird's body, Mecha screamed in huge agony. Bubblegum shuddered. She had heard him screeching blood curdling cries before, but this one was probably the most painful one. She even had to say; it sounded VERY EMOTIONAL. Her eyes shifted to Mecha. His face was contorted and writhed in fear, and his eyes were closed. He seemed to try to free his feet from the ice, but they were still stuck. He even had tears in his eyes. As Mecha's cries reached a crescendo, Bubblegum quickly pulled herself together and threw the last bomb at the Dark Eel.

BOOM!

The bomb exploded as it touched the eel's back. Again, bright lights and black powder flew everywhere. A loud noise filled the air. Bubblegum shielded her eyes away from the flying dust and white glow. When she opened her eyes, what she saw made her heart LITERALLY skipped a beat.

In front of her was Mecha. Or at LEAST it WAS Mecha.

Something didn't look right. Now, his body changed. Or to say the least; the colors of his appearance were different. His camouflage clothes all changed to different shades of black, purple and navy blue. His feathers were black. His beak was also black. The scar on his face was dark purple. There was a flaming cyan and black aura around him.

Mecha opened his eyes, revealing them to be purple and the sclera was black. Just like how Wolfgang's eyes were when under controlled.

And oh, the ice that trapped his feet was gone.

Bubblegum gulped. Mecha was no more.

"Oh shoot…" was all she could say.

* * *

**Belt's POV**

"Watch out!" said Sonic as one of the tentacles nearly hit me.

"GAH!" I screamed as I quickly jumped away.

Sonic and I had been dodging from Dark Gaia's attack. Sonic tried to use his spin attacks, but this only for him to propel backwards without leaving even a slight dent.

"This is impossible!" I said as Sonic landed beside me after a failed spin attack. "How are we going to get that Daynight diamond?"

"Belt!" he said. "Your powers!"

"What?" I said.

"Use them! You have light powers, right? You could use them to defeat him!"

"I guess so-AH!"

Suddenly, a large purple fireball came flying towards us and exploded. Sonic was able to get out of the way, but I didn't. I was caught in the explosion.

"BELT!" I heard Sonic cried.

I flew in the air and over the edge of the platform we were on. The blast must had been so strong. I looked behind my shoulders and I felt my heart stopped.

I WAS FALLING INTO THE MAGMA PIT.

"OHNONONONO!" I screamed.

I quickly tried to activate my powers to keep me safe from burning to death, but I felt my body came into contact with the hot lake.

Then everything went black.

…

The next thing I knew was opening my eyes. I looked around. There was nothing. Just darkness.

No light.

No people.

No rocks.

No magma pools.

Nothing.

The place I was in was completely deserted.

"Hello?" I said. "Is anyone here?"

No reply.

Just before I could do anything else, I felt something strange. It was coming from my left arm. I looked to see what it was.

Coming under from my glove was whiteness. It was spreading across from the wrist to the elbow.

Unlike last time, I remained calm.

"This again?" I thought. "Well guess I'm back in dream lane."

I sighed, closed my eyes and prepared to find out; letting the lightness consumed me. When it was done, I felt a surge of power coming out from my body causing me to growl in pain.

I opened my eyes and looked at my body. I was in my Ultimate Light Wolf form.

"It's been a while since I went through this transformation," I thought before looking up. "And it's been a long time since I ended up in this place."

I was back.

It was the same place I have been to in my dreams. It was a large white landscape with mint green waves in the sky.

"Hey there, our son," said a familiar voice.

I recognized the voice. AND those words.

I saw two people in front of me.

I smiled. It was the same two wolves I saw; both wearing brown slightly ripped robes with hoods, dark grey bodysuits and black boots. The left one was a light purple female wolf and on the right was a blue male wolf.

"Mum! Dad!" I said happily.

"Our sweet little light wolf," said Mum.

I ran to her and hugged her. I felt tears rolling down my cheek. It had been a while since I saw Mum and Dad in my dreams or to say it was an ETERNITY.

I looked at Dad. However, there was something wrong. He just looked at me as if I did something wrong. He seemed…angry.

"Dad?" I said, my voice sounded faraway.

Dad sighed. "Even without glasses, you STILL couldn't see the picture."

My smile faded. I started to see what he meant.

"Oh…" I said in guilt. "Right."

"I'm a bit disappointed that you lashed out on Wolfgang; or to call him Eddie to be exact," he said.

"I…I said I was sorry...but…he's gone…"

Dad leaned down and touched my chin.

"Son," he said. "You know that you sometimes act too quickly without thinking outside the box, right?"

I nodded dejected. "Maybe my actions do make me a big jerk. Probably not a good brother to ANYONE."

"Belt. Listen to this; I once assumed things too quickly at your age, which led me to my anger problems. What I might say to people might hurt, but I learnt to say sorry to those I caused despair to. You must have got part of my personality. You're still young and you need to learn to control your guesses on people."

"I know…" I said, my voice wavering. "But what if it gets out of control and my friends don't want to be with me anymore?! If I wasn't like you when you were young, I wouldn't get Wolfgang killed!"

I felt tears running down my eyes. I felt like an idiot.

"Belt," said Mum as she placed her hand on my shoulder. "Your friends are STILL friends. Wolfgang is your friend. You guys should be able to work things out. It might hurt for a while, but you will be OK. Like always."

Dad's stern expression turned to a smile. "You see, mate? Like what you said earlier; you don't HAVE to share the SAME world views or the SAME opinions just to make things right. That is NOT how friendships work! You are still learning, but you can't keep berating yourself for the mess you made like last time. Even if you mess up, remember; arguments and stress may drive a wedge but only forgiveness and loyalty can fix the friendship."

My frown turned to a smile. I understood what he meant. Dad stood up.

"Show them that you could beat a god," he said.

"I'm not as strong as a Resistance soldier," I said.

"No…you're stronger," corrected Mum.

I smiled. As I expected, Mum and Dad faded into the air.

"I hope I will see you again," I said.

My smile turned to a frown. I felt anger bubbling in my body.

"But now, it's time to finish the job," I said closing my eyes.

I snapped back to reality to see a bright red color blinding my eyes. I must had been in the magma pool. But, how come I COULDN'T feel heat or BURN to death?

"One way to find out," I thought.

I used all my will to swim out of the magma lake. When I did, I felt a surge of energy going through my body. I felt adrenaline running through my veins.

I felt POWERFUL.

I checked over my clothes briefly. My glasses had been fixed for some reason, the dome-shaped headset, utility belt and boots turned mint green, and my shirt and vest turned into a long white and mint green cape with a hood. My fur was white and my eyes turned mint green. My scar turned mint green. I was surrounded by a mint green aura.

As I floated upwards, I saw Sonic and Dark Gaia.

Sonic looked surprised, but relieved I was OK.

"Am I late?" I said before looking at the Dark Gaia. I gave the large deity a grim look. "Let's start the main act, shall we?"

The Dark Gaia's only response was to roar loudly. It shook the whole chamber that it nearly caused everything to come crashing down.

"I will take that as a yes," I said forming a laser beam and shooting it at the large deity.

However, the large beast made a shield that caused the laser to have little effect. It seemed to absorb the laser easily.

"I guess I have to use hand-to-hand combat," I said before charging towards Dark Gaia.

I bolted forwards in a burst with mint green flames dancing behind me. As I made my way through, the large deity started throwing large rocks at me in a bizarre way. I was able to form my on shield and went through the flying boulders. Eventually, I was able to break through Dark Gaia's shield.

As I got in, I saw a green glow on one of the tentacles. I flew towards it, but that tentacle turned into a snake head and tried to take a snap at me.

"Whoa!" I said. I saw the Daynight diamond that sat on its forehead.

I gave the tentacle a big atomic-power punch causing the tentacle to squeal and waved in the air madly. Just before I could chase after it, one of the tentacles smacked into me, causing me to fly out of the shield and hit a rocky wall.

"Ow!" I said as I collapsed onto the ground. "That hurt, you arse!"

I looked up to see Sonic.

"Need a hand?" he said.

I gasped as I noticed something; there were SEVEN FREAKING EMERALDS FLYING AROUND HIM. One red, one yellow, one green, one turquoise, one blue, one purple and one white.

They were the CHAOS EMERALDS.

"What the heck?!" I said in shock. "How come you got them here JUST NOW?"

"Brought them along just in case, this whole time," he said shrugging.

His body was floating and I saw the Chaos Emeralds absorbing into his body. Then, his body burst with energy and he now donned yellow fur, a yellow aura and red eyes. His quills were curved upwards.

He was in his SUPER SONIC FORM.

"Oh my cod!" I said as I looked at him in awe.

"Pretty cool, huh?" he said.

I quickly noticed that there was a flying boulder coming towards us. I raised my hand and formed a shield around us, protecting us from the boulder which just pathetically broke into pieces.

"Less complimenting, more fighting," I said. "We got a world to save."

We hovered up in the air. We both saw the Dark Gaia snarling at us.

"Shall we?" said Sonic with a smirk.

"Happy to do," I said.

We both sped up to the large deity. Again, it made a large shield around itself. I flew towards it first and broke through the shield.

"Good thing for you to break into that shield!" said Sonic. "I couldn't do it last time!"

"You get that Daynight piece!" I said. "I'll distract Dark Gaia."

At this, one of the tentacles swung towards us. I quickly dashed and catapulted myself at the flying tentacle causing a big explosion of energy. The tentacle went flying. The large monster roared angrily.

As Sonic flew to find the Daynight piece, I stared at Dark Gaia's face.

"Eyes on me, big bully!" I taunted in a firm voice.

At this, I flew towards its green eye and smashed into it. This caused the large deity to roar in pain.

"Yeah," I said. "Defeated now?!"

Its response was to swing one of its arms at me. I quickly flew out of the way and threw an energy ball. It hit the hand and caused a large dent on it. The Dark Gaia again roared in pain.

"I guess you cannot handle the light, can you?" I said.

I repeatedly hit the Dark Gaia with everything I got in the eyes and at its hands. In the same moment, I saw Sonic flying through the waving tentacles and quickly getting rid of them by doing numerous U-turns and slamming himself into the tentacles until they were no more. He came towards the tentacle where the Daynight diamond was rested upon.

The tentacle was still in the form of a snake head. It let out a screech at Sonic as a warning not to come near.

"That's how I feel about you," said Sonic before launching himself towards the Daynight diamond.

The snake head attempted to bite Sonic, but he quickly flew out of the way. At this, he sped up and cut through the tentacle. This caused the snake head to be chopped off and the Daynight diamond to fall off. He quickly grabbed it.

"Ha!" he said proudly. "Gotc-!"

He was cut off when he was hit by one of the flying tentacles. I watched in fear as he flew in a different opposite. He lost his grip on the Daynight diamond. Taking my eyes off Dark Gaia, I quickly flew up and grabbed the flying diamond.

Nevertheless, I didn't notice that one of Dark Gaia's hands grabbed me on the leg.

"AUGH!" I screamed, trying to get out. "Unhand me!"

The large deity didn't reply. It started to move me near its face and I realised this; IT WAS GOING TO EAT ME ALIVE.

Sonic quickly flew towards me and grabbed me by the hand. He tried to pull me out of Dark Gaia's grip, but to no avail despite stopping the large deity to pull further. This led to a tug of war between the Dark Gaia and Sonic.

"Let go!" I said. "Just take the Daynight diamond and find Chip!"

"I'm not letting go," said Sonic with a determined look in his eye. "I'm not going to lose another friend!"

As Sonic tried to pull me free, I used my own power to get myself out of Dark Gaia's hand. However, I couldn't free myself. I felt the crushing grip from the dark hand. It will be only a matter of time before my leg got crushed into splinters.

"This is crap," I thought. "What am I going to do? I can't get out."

Suddenly, I had the thought that I GOT to get out. If I didn't, it would be over. The world would be doomed. It would be the end of all life on Earth. Then, I remembered what that would cost.

Everything.

My friends.

Bubblegum.

Mecha.

Emerald.

Sebastian.

Sonic.

Wolfgang.

All of them and all the people in the world.

Even my brother, Clay.

How many people had to die?

When would the disasters, fights and world-domination wars stop?

My parents are GONE. My brother would be next.

No. That wouldn't happen.

I wouldn't let that happen.

I REFUSED to let that happen.

Feeling anger, I let out a loud howl and a large surge of energy coming out, causing me to blow a force onto Dark Gaia.

And at this, one of its tentacles accidentally slapped me.

* * *

**Third Person's POV**

Bubblegum just stared at Mecha. She didn't know what to say or do. She wasn't sure if Mecha was himself.

But she didn't need the answer. The now possessed Mecha charged and delivered a punch at Bubblegum's face. This caused her to fall down. When she opened her eyes, she saw Mecha about to stomp her. She quickly rolled out of the way, JUST before his boot met her face.

"Mecha!" said Bubblegum. "Stop this right now."

Mecha's only reply was to speed her up. She quickly dodged.

"STOP!" said Bubblegum. "I don't want to fight you!"

The dark bird just threw a large purple fireball at Bubblegum. She quickly jumped out of the way and the fireball exploded into the rocky wall.

"You got to snap out of this!" cried Bubblegum. "This isn't you!"

Just before she knew it, she received a heavy upper-cut from Mecha causing her to fly upwards and banged her head on the ceiling. She fell back down on the ground with a sickening crack.

"OK," Bubblegum snarled in pain. "I FELT that one."

At this, Mecha took out his Wispon and charged towards the pink cat. Bubblegum quickly got out her Wispon to defend herself. As a result, their weapons clashed and it became a tug of war to push each other.

Bubblegum tried to push, but Mecha was too strong. She looked into his eyes. He became…heartless. Due to the Dark Gaia's power, he became like a clone who did nothing but followed their creator's orders. Right or wrong. They would stop at nothing until they finished the job. She noticed that there was something else in those eyes. He looked…hurt. She remembered back then, Mecha would always snap or physically hurt people whoever bumped into him. That time, Mecha had no idea of how to control his emotions as a bully. He partly isolated himself from anyone who tried to comfort him. The look in his eyes made it very clear…he must be relapsing his…old bad memories.

Bubblegum snapped back to reality when Mecha won the war and pushed her to the ground. However, she quickly got back on her feet. Mecha started to punch and kick Bubblegum, but she quickly put her arms over her chest, avoiding damage.

Using a surprise attack, Mecha did his signature roundhouse kick and kicked Bubblegum in the head. As she hit the ground, she nearly lost consciousness when Mecha wrapped his hands around her throat, strangling the poor cat to death.

"Mecha…please…stop…" gasped Bubblegum attempting to breath. "…this…isn't…you…"

Mecha remained to do so. He looked so…furious. Bubblegum came to realize that the dark energy caused his negative emotions to become stronger and took over his body. Just like how he was back as a bully, the only way to let his anger out…was to inflict it on others.

Bubblegum finally knew what to do.

"MECHA!" she yelled angrily. "STOP BEING THE ARSE I'VE KNEW BEFORE. IS THIS HOW YOUR FATHER WOULD WANTED YOU TO BE?!"

What she said must had the same impact of a thousand bowling balls hitting someone's head. Mecha looked…shocked.

"Mecha," Bubblegum said. "If you can listen to me, hear this; I don't know what Dark Gaia's doing to you, but…you're acting like the same jerk who put me through hell a lot. I know the pain you are going through; just because you did it to me years ago. Your father left you, your mother insulted you and you kept everything to yourself. You might be the bully I know – or at least you are now – but I'm here for you. Now – even after the war – you are surrounded by friends. Sebastian cares for you! Clay cares for you! Emerald cares for you! Belt cares for you! I care for you! You got to be strong! Don't let those emotions take over you. You're afraid to hurt others right? Then why are you doing it now?"

It was silent for a while. Bubblegum thought that Mecha was going to attack, but then, she saw that his eyes looked…different. The sclera of the eyes were slowly turning from black to white. His angry expression turned to a depressed one. Mecha started to heavily breathe and finally, his eyes were back to white. The pupils were still purple, but judging by the breathing, Bubblegum knew that the REAL Mecha was back. He was…trembling.

"B…Bubblegum…" said Mecha, his voice sounded gruff like Wolfgang. "…I'm…"

"You don't have to apologize," said Bubblegum giving him a quick hug. "You can't control it. You need someone to help you get over with it, right?"

Mecha smiled and nodded. Even though he was still in this Dark Gaia form, he was still himself. All of a sudden…

CLONK!

Out of nowhere, a huge piece of rock hit Mecha on the head. He collapsed. At first, Bubblegum felt worried, but just came to the fact that he was just knocked out.

"Well that was unexpected," she said.

The silence was broken by a loud howl. Bubblegum looked behind to see Dark Gaia falling backwards, kilometres away from her but seemingly close. It landed into the magma ocean, but got up as if it wasn't done yet. She looked up to see a glowing green object flying in the air.

IT WAS THE DAYNIGHT DIAMOND.

"Oh no…" said Bubblegum in horror.

Bubblegum stood up and ran towards the edge and jumped off the platform. She then quickly aimed her grappling gun at the ceiling and the hook attached itself to a hanging rock shape hanging on the ceiling. She then used it to pull herself up and swung to grab the Daynight diamond.

She quickly caught it.

"GOT IT!" she said.

This made the Dark Gaia angry. Its eyes stared at the pink cat and launched a flaming fireball at her.

"WATCH OUT!" called Belt from the distance.

"Oh sh-!" was all Bubblegum could say.

* * *

Belt's POV

As I recovered from the hit, I saw that Bubblegum was able to get the Daynight diamond…and there was a large purple fireball flying towards her.

"WATCH OUT!" I called.

Too late.

The flaming fireball exploded in front of her. She didn't have burns, but she was clearly injured. She went flying in the air and below her was the magma pool. The Daynight diamond slipped away from her hands.

"NO!" I screamed in horror.

I quickly flew towards her in a fast speed. I knew that losing Bubblegum meant losing one of my best friends in the world. I wouldn't let her be next. Not after Wolfgang's death.

As I flew, I noticed she was trying to activate her grappling gun…but it didn't seem to respond. I didn't know what she said, but her mouth must had said a curse word. She was getting closer to the magma ocean. I quickly grabbed her as she was falling in front of me.

"AUGH!" she screamed as I grabbed her.

"Are you alright?" I said.

"I'm fine. I'm fine," she said. "What about the Daynight diamond?!"

I looked and saw the green glowing gem still falling. Even worse, it was too far away from my reach.

"Oh no…" I said.

When I thought that it would be over, something quickly flew and grabbed the Daynight diamond.

It was Chip.

"What did I miss?" he asked.

When the Dark Gaia saw Chip hold the Daynight diamond, it seemed to be…afraid.

"Goodbye," said Chip before seemingly activating the diamond.

A flash of light suddenly burst out of the diamond. Everything went white for a while. When my vision returned, I saw the Dark Gaia roaring in pain and defeated. It had a mint green aura glowing around it. It seemed to be pulled into the boiling magma. What was even more surprising was that dark shadows from different directions were flying towards the Dark Gaia as if they were also being sucked in.

"It's over," I said as I flew over to the nearby platform. When I landed, I put Bubblegum down gently. We both watched as the Dark Gaia slowly sank into the depths of the magma lake.

The Dark Gaia was defeated. No longer awake to continue its evil plan.

I looked up to see Sonic and Chip were flying over to us. When the hedgehog landed, light flashed out from his body and he had returned to his normal blue self with the Chaos Emerald discharged out of his body.

"What the…?" said Bubblegum confused.

"Great job guys!" Sonic said. "Well done!"

He playfully ruffled my hair. I chuckled a bit.

"I can't believe that the Dark Gaia is finally defeated and sent back below," said Chip looking at me. "I got to say thank you guys! You are heroes after all!"

"You think so?" I said.

"We did all we could," said Bubblegum placing a hand on my shoulder. "It's worth it. You are definitely a Resistance soldier."

I smiled at this. This time, I felt certain that I was a great warrior. Even though I had flaws, I still had my strengths. Just then, I heard somebody groaned. I looked to see Mecha lying on the ground and there was…dark shadows coming out from him.

"What the…?" said Sonic.

"How come…" I said.

"It's a long story," said Bubblegum coming up to help Mecha. "I'll explain it later."

She picked the bird up and helped him on his feet. Mecha opened his eyes slowly, trying to gain his vision.

"Are you alright, Mecha?" I said.

"I'm feeling kind of loopy…" slurred Mecha with a quirky smirk.

I went up to him and placed my hand on his forehead. I used my healing powers to make the headache go away.

"Thank you, dude," said Mecha. "You're a lifesaver."

"What happened to you?" I asked.

"Ah…" said Mecha, his smile turning to a frown. "I got infected by the Dark Gaia and I don't really remember what happened. All I know was that I was filled with…you know what, that wouldn't matter now. I prefer not to say it."

"You're lucky that you quickly snapped out of your dark side like Wolfgang did," said Bubblegum.

"Speaking of Wolfgang, where is he?" said Chip.

A feeling of guilt inflicting my mind. Wolfgang…oh…right. The last time I saw him was him being sucked into the Dark Gaia.

"Uh…" I said on the brink of tears. "Wolfgang is…uh…I…"

"What's wrong?" said Chip.

"Well…" said Sonic uncomfortably. "While you were lost, Wolfgang was under the control of Dark Gaia. He was able to become free, but the Dark Gaia pulled him in."

"Oh my…so is he…?"

He trailed off, realising what Sonic meant.

"I can't believe it…" I said. "He's…he's gone."

"Wolfgang…" said Bubblegum, having tears in her eyes. "…is actually my father…"

Chip looked surprised. Mecha's surprised as well.

"So you were right!" said Chip.

"Yeah…" said Bubblegum. "I thought I might be able to see my father again but…he's gone…this time…for REAL."

"It's all my fault," I said looking down. "I shouldn't have made him run away."

"It's not your fault," said Mecha. "He would be proud of you guys for finishing what's started."

I nodded. It was silent for a while, when Sonic looked up.

"Hey," he said pointing upwards. "What's that?"

We all looked to where he was pointing. Somewhere on the top of a tall monolith, there were dark shadows flying out and into the magma lake.

"Can it be…" said Mecha.

"Hold on, guys," I said forming a mint green aura around Sonic, Bubblegum and Mecha.

Using my levitation, I lifted the three up while Chip flew behind us. I flew over to the monolith and we landed on the top. What I saw made my heart froze.

There – lying on the rock formation – was an unconscious male lavender cat. He had five long bangs combed to the left. What surprised me was that there were dark shadows coming out from his body.

"What the…?" I thought. "Could it be?"

I took one look at Bubblegum. She looked shocked. She got tears in her eyes.

"DAD!" cried Bubblegum running towards the lying body. Mecha quickly came towards him.

"Is he OK?" I asked.

Mecha checked his heartbeat. "The heart rate is at ease. He will live."

"Oh my…" said Bubblegum covering her mouth. I could tell that in her eyes, she couldn't believe. After being separated from her father for four years, she finally got to be with him again.

Finally, the dark shadows were gone from his body. Wolfgang – I mean Eddie now – slowly opened his eyes. Instead of the blood red colour, his eyes were dark navy blue; just like Bubblegum's. When he saw Bubblegum, he looked…amazed.

"B…Beth?" he said.

"Dad…" said Bubblegum, her voice wavering. "I…"

In an instant, she threw her arms around him. She started to cry and Eddie cried as well with relief and happiness.

"I can't believe you're OK!" said Bubblegum crying.

"Likewise," said Eddie. "I…I remember now. I could have died, but luckily, my body was ejected out from that beast."

I was amazed by what I saw. The two had been apart for so long and now they were back together. It was almost hard for me to imagine a big family reunion. I almost choked up to be honest.

"How's…how's my wife?" asked Eddie, blubbering out words. "Is she still OK?"

Bubblegum's smile turned to a frown. "She isn't here anymore. After you went missing, she passed away a year later…heartbroken."

Eddie was distressed and shattered as he absorbed the news. Then a change passed over his face – a look of happiness.

"Then I guess she's alright in heaven now," he said smiling. "At least I still have my girl. Your mother can rest in peace."

"Amen," chuckled Bubblegum, hugging her father again.

Eddie smiled. He looked at me and he seemed to be…upset.

"B…Belt…" he said.

"Hi there," I said feeling guilty.

"You're looking new."

I shrugged as he got up. "I guess you can say that."

I looked at his eyes. There was a mixture of pain, regret, fear and sadness.

"I'm…I'm sorry for attacking you…" Eddie said.

"Eddie," I said. "I already forgave you so you don't have to-"

"But I shouldn't have gave you that scar on your face. I made a lot of mistakes. I'm so sorry!"

I touched the scar where he scratched before, then let my hand fell to my side.

"I'm sorry too," I said.

"What?" said Wolfgang.

I put my hands over his shoulders. "It was my fault that you ran off. I took you for granted on the OUTSIDE. My mistake was that I was supposed to be supporting you on the INSIDE. The real you. Now, you are free from the Dark Gaia. Try to forgive yourself from the things you have done. You are still my friend, right?"

Eddie was surprised by what I said. He smiled. "Guess it wasn't easy, huh?"

"No," I said as I hugged him. "NOTHING is easy."

As I broke away from the hug, Mecha spoke up.

"Hey, Mr Lehem…" he said.

"Yes?" Eddie said.

"I want to say that I'm sorry for almost letting you died four years ago," Mecha said looking down.

"It's alright. You were being reckless that time and it was my job to help the young ones, right?"

Mecha smiled as he crossed his arms. "Yeah…I guess so."

"I suppose that you are…KIND-OF…still bullying people today, are you?"

Mecha looked annoyed. "No. Not anymore. I already changed and why do you think I'm working with your daughter now? Yet…I realized what I've done…there's a lot to tell you."

Eddie ignored his sarcastic question and looked at all of us.

"I should be thanking you all," he said. "If you didn't convince me to join you on this crazy adventure, I would still be strolling through the underground with amnesia."

"Geez," said Sonic chirpily. "No pressure or anything."

Eddie looked at Chip. "But mostly, I should be thanking you. You gave me some of the light energy. Without it, I would be lost."

"You're welcome," said Chip gratefully. "We're lucky that you get to live."

I smiled in pride. I looked at Bubblegum, who gave me a sympathetic look. Things were going to be alright, after all.

Eddie let out a deep breath. "Alright! Let's head back home now."

He closed his eyes and started to walk away. When I saw where he WAS GOING, my eyes widened up.

"Uh, Eddie?" I said. "WAIT!"

"What?" he said opening his eyes.

"Juuuuuuust don't look down," said Sonic worriedly.

"Huh? What's down?" said Eddie looking down.

Turned out, he walked OVER the colonith's edge and now in mid air.

He was standing on nothing.

ABSOLUTELY nothing.

And below him – at least 3000 kilometers high – was the large magma pool.

"Ohhhh…" said Eddie nervously. "Right…"

And he fell down.

"CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…"

**\- PLEASE STAND BY AS WE ARE GOING THROUGH SOME TECHNICAL ISSUES -**

* * *

**AN: Dangit, Eddie. You messed it up again. Don't worry about him. He'll be fine!**

**[1] Please excuse the words replaced by various symbols as the letters for that word were caught in traffic and unable to make it here on time for the chapter. :3**

**Surprising that Wolfgang was actually Bubblegum's father, eh? I had this idea for a long time as I wanted to make a scene where a character SEEMINGLY dies, but got back to life again. I thought that maybe I could use Bubblegum's father and place him back into the series than writing him off. With that, I happily make a good family reunion. **

**That's all for today. If you like this story: follow or favorite this story for updates of the story. Make sure to review this chapter on what you thought of this story. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).**

**The question for this chapter: Are you surprised that Wolfgang is actually Bubblegum's father? What are your thoughts on that?**

**Until next time, see you all in the next chapter next Monday for the finale!**


	10. Back for the Party

**Chapter 10 – Back for the Party**

"OK," said Eddie annoyed. "Next time, I better watch out where I'm going."

"Yeah," I said. "You should."

At that moment, I used my power of levitation to make my friends hover at my control. I was taking all of us back to our home. We were still underground, so I was looking out for the place where I and Bubblegum found the scroll in the beginning.

"Gotcha," I said founding something nearby.

I and the others landed on a nearby platform. From there, I saw the large clearing and the gigantic Greek-like pillars which reduced to debris. Deep roots of the trees that grew out of the walls were painted in black and purple.

"Oh...that's new," said Mecha surprised. "Is this where you accidentally freed the Dark Gaia?"

Bubblegum rolled her eyes.

I inhaled sharply. "Yeah…"

"Mayor Wills are going to get us sued for this," said Bubblegum.

"I won't tell him if you don't," said Sonic with a smile.

I spotted a large pile of boulders stacked on each other that touched the ceiling a few kilometers away from us .

"That must be our way out," I said.

"But it's blocked," said Mecha.

"I can get all of us out of here. Trust me."

We walked over to the blocked entrance that led to the horizon. When I stopped, Chip cleared his throat.

"Uh, guys," said Chip. "I have to stay here. You know I have to stay here to keep watch of Dark Gaia."

"What?" said Sonic, at first confused but remembered why. "Oh. Right."

"You're going to be OK out there, are you?" I said.

"I'll be OK," said Chip with a smile. "I can take care of myself."

"Alright," said Sonic. "We're not going to stop you. Just make sure that you will be safe."

"Take care, little guy," said Eddie. "See you around soon."

"Try not to mech mistakes, buddy," said Mecha.

Chip chuckled hearing this. He did a quick hug with Sonic before a light haze covered him and soon, he took off further through the cavern.

"Let's go," I said making a green aura around us.

I closed my eyes and concentrated. I used my power to teleport us to the ground above. When I opened my eyes, I looked around. We were back on the surface.

Night had already fallen. We were at a large clearing and at the edges, there was those large forest of trees.

"We're…" said Bubblegum. "We're back."

Eddie looked around in surprise. "I have been away from home for so long…"

"Same," said Sonic. "It's been a while since I visited Australia."

Mecha noticed something behind us. "Hey. Is this where the Forbidden Cave used to be at?"

We all looked behind.

"Oh, right…" I said staring at huge pile of rock rubble; the remains of the cave.

"At least nobody has to worry about that crap anymore," said Bubblegum matter-of-factly.

I sighed in relief. At this, I stroke my rings and my body turned back to its normal appearance as I was no longer in my super form anymore.

Sonic looked at us. "So now, maybe I can hang around at your town for a while."

"What?" Bubblegum and I said in unison.

"C'mon," said Sonic with a smug look. "It's best to give your people a warm welcome from the fastest hedgehog in the world after your little disappearance!"

Mecha chuckled. "You are allowed to hang around for a while. They – I mean, WE – will accept anyone in our town."

"Okey dokey!" said Sonic with a grin. "Is your home nearby?"

As if on cue, fireworks could be heard being fired into the night-sky. A rocket flew upwards and exploded into the stars, letting out a colorful bang of purple streaks.

"It's just nearby," I said, pointing to the direction of where the fireworks was.

We set off, heading back to Forest Tournament Town. I looked around. It felt a bit strange to be away from home for so long, like during the time after the Infinite War. As we continued to make our way, more fireworks flew into the sky, creating a fantastic view of rainbow colors.

"Ah," said Eddie happily. "I remember. These fireworks are used to celebrate a team's victory after the tournament finals."

"There's a tournament?" asked Sonic interested.

"Yeah. Why do you think we call our town 'Forest Tournament Town'? There must be one going on right now. Do you guys know who won?"

Hearing this made my heart stopped. I halted. So did Bubblegum.

The tournament finals.

A team's victory.

WE MISSED THE TOURNAMENT FINALS.

I realised that during the confusion, we had forgotten to return home on time. I made a promise to Clay that we would return, but…

And the look on Bubblegum's face said that she was in BIGGER trouble than anyone was in.

"Oh no…" said Bubblegum.

"What is it, honey?" asked Eddie.

Bubblegum groaned and put her hands over her head. "The FINALS. My team made into the finals and I'M LATE!"

Mecha had been trying to keep his cool upon seeing us stopped, but then, he started laughing hysterically.

"OH MON DIEU!" he hollered between laughter. "Wait 'till Tom sees you! He will LITERALLY lose his head!"

"Shut up, bird brain!" snarled Bubblegum. "At least we have to sacrifice this night to save the world – I mean, OUR TOWN – from danger."

"Tom?" said Eddie looking at Bubblegum. "That young skateboard cat? You're on his team?"

"Yeah…a few months after you went missing, I joined his team to get my mind off. I got to say; it was a living nightmare."

"Why's that?" said Sonic.

"Remember how Tom was like when you met him?" said Bubblegum. "He's a CONTROL FREAK. Even when I'm late for a team meeting by ONE SECOND, he will flip a table over. I mean, that's not true. That's just an expression, but TRUST ME. He's probably more feral than wolves."

Sonic shrugged. "I guess you have to tell him the truth. Besides, he would be more worried for your safety than you missed out something 'important'. What could possibly go wrong?"

Bubblegum glared at him. "EVE-RY-THING."

Eddie noticed I was looking upset. "Belt? Are you OK?"

"C…Clay…" was all I said.

"What?" said Sonic.

"Clay. My brother," I said, slapping myself on the face. "I left him a note saying that I will be back for the finals...even though it's been a few days, he probably misses me. I…I miss him too."

Eddie placed a hand on my shoulder. "I think he will be happy that you're still alive. It's alright, because you two get to see each other again."

I smiled hearing this. "Thanks for letting me know."

We finally arrived at the town gates. The large white and red castle-like walls appeared in front of us.

"Such big gates," said Sonic. "Pretty impressive."

"First time I heard anyone comment about the gates," said Mecha as he opened the large door.

We all headed into the town. There weren't many people around this area. It seemed that almost everyone decided to celebrate the finals at the town square.

"Let's look for the others," said Mecha. "They are probably be waiting for us."

"Yeah," said Bubblegum. "But someone please keep me away from Tom. The last thing I want is to be screamed at by-"

She was cut off when out of nowhere came TOM.

"BETH LEHEM!" screamed Tom at Bubblegum's face. "WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?! WHAT WERE YOU DOING FOR THE WHOLE FREAKING TIME?!"

Bubblegum tried to say a word, but Tom kept angrily ranting at her. That was until Sonic stepped in.

"Chill, bro," said Sonic, separating the two cats. "We just returned so there's nothing to worry about."

Tom – who kept a stoic look – sounded surprised. "Sonic? What are you going here?"

"Just decide to help these guys on their adventure," said Sonic. "By the way didn't your mother taeach you ANY manners and wasn't it rude to yell at girls? I won't be surprised if you don't have a girlfriend."

I inhaled sharply. Mecha put a hand over his beak, trying to stifle a laugh. It was not a good idea to talk like this to Tom. Even if that WAS true.

Tom's eye twitched. He then put a finger at Sonic's eyes that it nearly touched the hedgehog's face. "Listen here…FRIEND. I don't know what the hell you guys did, but if you say another word, I swear I will curl you up in a ball, place you in a box and kick you off a cliff into the OCEAN!"

"Tom," said Eddie. "Calm down. He has a point, though."

At this, Tom looked shocked. He noticed Eddie and his face turned pale; as white as a ghost.

"M-Mr Lehem?!" stuttered Tom.

"Hi Tom," said Eddie calmly. "It's been a while, eh?"

"H-h-how…am I the only one seeing this? How come you're-?"

"I'm alive," said Eddie finishing his sentence. "Long story. I didn't really die in that ravine. Belt and his friend found me underground. I will tell you about it, but I think I should tell the mayor first. Do you know where he is?"

"He's at the t-town square," said Tom trying to process what was going on. However, old habits die hard. His once shocked expression was replaced by coldness. "You know what, I don't CARE where you guys went off to. Bubblegum, you're lucky that Sebastian was willing to take your place during the finals."

"What?" said Bubblegum. "He did?"

"Yes, and we wouldn't have won the finals without him."

This took both Bubblegum and Mecha by surprise.

"Did you say…" said Bubblegum.

"That means the Blazers won the tournament!" said Mecha.

"Yep," said Tom. "And I would like to advise you to not RUN AWAY FROM TOWN EVER AGAIN!"

"Calm down, Tom," said Eddie. "There's more to life than winning so don't blame Bubblegum for nearly making your team lose."

"It's not just that," said Tom, his fist clenching up. "You gave me a HEART ATTACK – no, you made EVERYONE bumped into a wall. Emerald, Sebastian, Cassie…even Xander! They…WE were worried about you as you didn't even care to leave a note behind! Emerald's parents nearly called the police to find you. Worse, they almost called the Resistance."

Tom then turned his attention to me. "At least YOU were the one to let Clay know you have to go for a while. Even with that, you made him very worried! Worried that he might lose his best friend and his ONLY brother."

I gulped hearing this and looked down in shame.

"On the bright side," said Tom even though he didn't look happy. "It's about time you lot returned. Everyone is at the town square, so you will be able to catch up with your friends."

"Then what are you doing here?" said Mecha.

"I'm not in a great mood, so I'm going home. I think this captain needs to sit out for a while. You could celebrate with the others," said Tom. Suddenly, he grabbed Bubblegum on the arm. "And also, next time if you don't tell us that you are going on a 'field trip', I'LL MAKE YOU WISH THAT YOU NEVER RETURN! YOU GOT THAT?!"

Bubblegum nodded. Tom spat out something inaudible, released her hand and stomped away.

"Wow," said Sonic. "What a jerkhole!"

"Darn," said Bubblegum slightly shaking. "That guy needs to take a chill pill."

"Is he always this cranky?"

"That's Tom for you," said Mecha matter-of-factly.

"Anyway, there are people waiting for us," I said grimly.

"Then what are you guys waiting for?" said Sonic. "Let's go."

We all headed over to the town square. From there, I could see a lot of people there. They were all gathered up to watch performance to celebrate the Blazers' victory. I tried to look for Clay.

I saw Eddie sneaking his way to the stage. I didn't think that the people noticed him because he was covering his face.

"What is he doing?" I said to Bubblegum.

"He's going to see the mayor. Probably tell him that he's here," she said.

Meanwhile, I saw Sonic heading into the crowd with Mecha watching him. This caught people by surprise. Within moments, everyone started to crowd around him, marvelling at the worldwide hero. He seemed to be enjoying the attention.

"He's really digging in the attention, huh?" said Mecha slightly jealous.

"You did that once," said Bubblegum as we both came up to Mecha.

"Ha ha. Nice one pointing that out."

"BELT!" called a voice.

My ears perked up. I recognized that voice. "Clay?"

At this, I saw my brother running towards me and tackling me in a hug. We both fell. I heard him…crying? Whatever it was, it must be in happiness and relief. I laughed a bit and I couldn't help but cried as well. I was overjoyed to be with Clay again. I savoured the moment until I felt Clay getting up.

"Oh…I'm…" he said.

"It's OK," I said as he gave me a hand to get up.

"Where have Bubblegum, Mecha and you been?" Clay said. "I was really worried about you guys."

"I'm sorry. Me and Bubblegum accidentally did something wrong which nearly had an impact on the entire world. It's a long story, but we had to get out to stop this threat. We didn't tell anyone because Bubblegum was worried that we might be in trouble."

"Don't you ever disappear like that again. We made a deal to look out for each other, remember?"

At this, I was silent before smiling. "I remember, but sometimes, when you have to go, you HAVE to go. Please forgive me."

"It's alright," said Clay hugging me again. "I forgive you. At least you're here. Thank God you are alright."

I smiled. It was good to be back.

"Clay…" said Bubblegum nervously.

At this, Clay turned his head to see Bubblegum and Mecha. I let go off Clay and he hugged his two friends.

"It's alright," said Bubblegum. "We are here. That's what matters."

Clay let go. "Sorry. I was just so concerned about you guys."

"Tom told us what happened," said Mecha. "How are the others?"

"They are alright," said Clay wiping his eyes. "It's just…me who was worried the whole time. I nearly fell into the same depression I had during the Infinite War."

"I'm so sorry," Bubblegum and I in unison.

"It's OK. Emerald and Sebastian were there for me, so I was alright."

"Hey there Rookie! I mean, Clay," said Sonic coming up.

Clay looked surprised. "Sonic? What are you doing here?"

"I just helped Belt, Bubblegum and Mecha on their little adventure. I decided if it would be alright to hang around here."

Clay chuckled. "Yet, I thought you would be helping out the Resistance."

"Yay! Mr Bean is back!" a voice said from behind.

Before I could look behind, I felt a hand pulling down not only my shorts, but my UNDERPANTS.

Clay's pants even went down.

As IF I didn't know who pantsed us.

(Note: In this universe, it's alright for male anthropomorphic animals to have no clothes as their private parts are seemingly invisible. HOWEVER, not all of them are comfortable going clothes-free; for example, Clay and Belt.)

OK. Remember when I told Clay not to snap when Emerald did that to him? Forget it. I was REALLY ticked off at that moment.

I whipped out my Wispon and so did Clay. We both spun around and hit Emerald on the head.

BANG!

"OW!"

We just glared at the smiling sheepishly Emerald as we pulled up our pants.

Bubblegum shook her head.

Mecha tried his best not to laugh.

Sonic just stared blankly at Emerald. "You can't go one night without pulling a prank or something, can you?"

"Nope," said Emerald dizzily. She nearly witlessly fell down if Sebastian didn't come up and quickly grabbed her.

"There you are!" said Sebastian upon seeing Bubblegum, Mecha and me. "I was wondering where you went."

"Sorry," said Mecha. "Had to go off for a mission."

Sebastian sighed in relief. "Good grief that you're alright. Thought that you were gone forever."

At this, he came towards to Mecha and hugged him. I grinned seeing this. Sebastian must have missed Mecha a lot as he looked up to him as a brother.

"OK, buddy," guffawed Mecha with a smirk. "It's alright. Funny that you are still on my nerves."

All of a sudden, something in Clay's pocket started buzzing.

"I got to go on stage now," he said as he started to make his way to the stage. "Have to be the DJ again. Enjoy the show!"

After a few moments, we saw Mayor Wills coming up on the stage. The lights dimmed a bit and everyone turned their attention to the stage. Polite applause filled the air as he stepped near the edge.

"Thank you to everyone who came tonight," he said. "Again, congratulations to the Blazers for winning this tournament. This is their first victory in the tournament so let's give them a round of applause."

The audience burst into applause. Mayor Wills gave a gesture to hush everyone.

"Just before we get into tonight's performance, we have a special announcement. As most of you might know, Eddie Lehem passed away four years ago. I mean, not 'passed away'. The correct term is 'gone missing'."

The mood of the audience turned to confusion upon hearing this.

"During Belt Colourz's, Beth Lehem's and Mecha Nism's absence, they found a...rather ALIVE person, stuck in underground…or at least what he said. This is not a dream. It's real. Eddie Lehem…is ALIVE."

The audience gasped. This even caught Emerald and Sebastian by surprise.

"WHAT?!" said Emerald.

"B-But…" said Sebastian. He turned to face me, Bubblegum and Mecha. "Is this true?"

I nodded.

"There's a lot to explain," said Bubblegum. "But it's true. We found him alive in the flesh."

"Apparently, his founders had brought him back here," continued Mayor Wills after a long length of silence. "So please, welcome him back; here's Eddie Lehem."

Coming through the curtains, Eddie came up onto the stage. The crowd at first was stunned, but then gave him a loud round of applause. Eddie made his way nervously to Mayor Will. He was...anxious of being seen after had gone for all those years.

"Uh…um…hi…" said Eddie.

"Just to note that when you disappeared, everyone was upset upon hearing that," explained Mayor Wills. "Everyone thought you were dead. The question is, how come you're still alive and where were you the whole time?"

"Well…it's complicated to explain, but…I didn't die during that fall. Long short story, something possessed me and those young kids found me. All kind of smells to be stuck underground and never took a bath."

Some people laughed at this. I saw Bubblegum nodding honestly.

"I guess you could say that," said Mayor Wills heartily. "You do kind of stink. Anyway, since you're back, do you think you can adjust to life easily after all those years and do you intend to retrieve your job as a police?"

Eddie's eyes widened up, hearing this. He put his hand on his chin, then finally came up with a response.

"Why not?" he said smiling. "As a police, it's my job to take care of those who need help. I'll continue to work as one; I still want to make the world a better place."

The audience cheered, appreciating his choice. In fact, Bubblegum was cheering as well. The words 'make the world a better place' made her feel happy that Eddie was still willing to work as a cop after spending the last few years all by himself.

"I...I want to say that I'm sorry for disappearing for a while," said Eddie looking down.

"It's OK," said Mayor Wills.

Eddie shook his head. "It's...it's not really OK. I just came back here and I didn't know what had happened here. I didn't even get to see my wife before she died…"

"I'm sure that she would be proud of you for being alive, still healthy and strong. You got your daughter there so no need to worry. We can help you pick up from where you left off."

"Thank you Eddie," said Mayor Wills. "You may go now."

Eddie smiled and started to walk off. OK but not in the way you might think he would do. He just JUMPED off the stage and into the crowd. I guessed he did that as a quick way to get to us.

"Moving on," continued Mayor Wills. "To celebrate the Blazers' victory, we have a special performance. Picking up from last time, our two musical artists are back for another show. Here with 'Lonely Together', give it up for Bay Be and Clay Colourz!"

Mayor Wills made his way off the stage. The crowd cheered as the curtains were up to reveal the entire stage. Bay was in the center of a white square with two walls behind her. Clay – on the turntables – behind her. The background screen showed red kaleidoscopic shapes. The music started off with an introduction before Bay began singing.

"Anything I missed?" Eddie said as he finally got near us.

"That's a good speech, dad," said Bubblegum. "Are you sure you want to continue to work for the police force?"

"I'm sure," said Eddie confidently. "You need some help with the fuzz. It's what your mum would want, right?"

Bubblegum nodded approvingly. "Right. You're right."

"Huh," said Sonic. "What a party! Clay's such a good DJ."

I looked up. Again, he was enjoying himself. Turning the disc, increasing the volumes, pressing the keyboard and the Launchpad, and using special effects.

"C'mon," said Emerald. "Let's dance!"

Hearing this, everyone got into the motion. I saw Bubblegum just standing, watching the performance and nodded her head in rhythm.

"Ahem," said Eddie, causing me to startle a bit. "Care to dance battle."

"OK," I said, though I was a bit hesitant to do so.

I did a few hand and leg gestures. I could see that Eddie wasn't a good dancer as some of his moves were a bit cringy. At one point, he tried to make an improvement spin, only to fall down.

"You're OK?" I said, laughing a bit.

"Yeah," he said. "OK. Maybe the dance battle wasn't much of a good idea. I'm not a good dancer."

"Don't worry," I said as I helped him get up. "I'm not a good dancer myself. My brother is probably better."

As I helped him stand up, I looked up in the sky. The night sky showed bright impressive stars in a beautiful pattern. Fireworks continued to fly up to the sky and exploded in colorful pops.

"I'm glad that I fell in that ravine," said Eddie.

I looked at him confused. "Why's that?"

"If not, none of this would happen and I wouldn't have made friends with young kids."

I smiled. "I guess that's fair, Eddie."

"No, no, no. From now on, just call me Wolfgang."

I was confused. "But we just gave you that name because you couldn't remember yours in the first place. You don't need to use it anymore."

"That's true, but I think it's a nice nickname. It's a pleasure to be called that."

I smiled. "OK then. Wolfgang it is."

I looked at the celebration happening. Then, I turned to Bubblegum who gave a smile with Sonic nodding approvingly. I smiled back.

I looked at Wolfgang. "I bet that your wife would be proud that you still get another chance to live."

"Your parents would be proud of you saving the world," said Wolfgang.

I felt tears creeping into my eyes as they made their way down my face. I felt proud of myself for doing something right.

I was a Resistance soldier after all.

I was the Light Wolf.

As the song nearly came to an end, Wolfgang held his fist at me. I noted that he wanted to give me a fist bump. And so, I did. As our fists came into contact, a firework exploded loudly in the background. I wasn't bothered. I was happy at this moment.

This was one I would never forget.

**The End**

* * *

**Belt's Final Note**

This was my story.

It really happened.

I'm happy that it came to an end.

Things had already started to settle down.

Eddie…I meant Wolfgang had re-joined the police force and he became co-leader alongside with Bubblegum. Their project became successful and I thought their dream – making the world a better place – was coming true. However, Wolfgang needed to go into therapy before he could start. Apparently, spending four years underground had its effects.

I had been spending a lot of time with my friends. I told Clay everything and I nearly broke down on the part when I had to tell Sonic about my frustration and lashing out on Wolfgang. Clay choked up when hearing this.

We were lucky that we didn't lose a lot of money. After hearing what happened, Mayor Wills let us off scot-free, even though Bubblegum and I illegally entered the Forbidden Cave, which was going to be rebuilt as a new vegetarian area.

A few days after hanging around, Sonic went off, on a high chance to go on another adventure and felt the wind as he ran. I thought we might bump into him soon, probably in a bigger situation than the last.

Making a promise to stay together, Clay and I are planning to continue working for the Black Squad and partly the Resistance. With the help of Bubblegum and Mecha, we started to work on our squad development and even planned on where our HQ might be.

I can't help but feel as if something big would happen next. I still remembered how I took things for granted too quickly. I am trying my best to not let my frustration took control of me, so I keep touching the scar on my face to remind me of the consequences of my actions. It became a habit eventually. However, I feel that my shallow mind might act again. I may need to see someone to help me with my problems as I don't feel like a new leaf YET. Eventually, I just shrug it off and continued on with life.

Now, it is nearly Christmas and I am going to celebrate it with my friends or to be called; my new family. It is going to be different, unlike the last time as I had only celebrated the holiday with Clay.

I would like to thank Cheah – TurquoiseTriangle – for helping me get it down on paper. Also, I would like to thank those who read this story. None of this would have been possible if Bubblegum and I were without the scroll in the beginning.

Like most people, I took things for granted for too long.

If this story can save even just ONE person from making the same mistake, then I will be very thankful.

Who knows?

The next person you trust may be the one that you don't like initially.

May God be with you always.

\- Belt Colourz

* * *

**AN: Thank you as well, Belt. And we're done! Forces United 2- Resist the Dark comes to an end!**

**I like to thank all the readers (you!) for reading this story. So far...it reached about...uh...316 views...and there are only about 3 reviews (that were made 2 months ago)...but no worries! Even though it's probably not enough, I'm still grateful for all of you reading this. **

**Special thanks to Infinite's Ruby, The Sensational SpiderDom321, Zoggerific, teharrisonfox and any other guest replies for leaving a follow, review or favoring this story. It means a lot to me.**

**However, the story doesn't end there, because in a few months time, I will be uploading two special bonus chapters. One will be what happens after the main events of this story and the first ever Christmas chapter. **

**I hope you enjoy this story. I know that this isn't a good one, but it's OK. There will be an upcoming story coming soon this Christmas holidays where I got help from a few friends of mine. Also, Inkcredible 2 is planned to be released next year, so stay tune to see what will be expected in that story! As a bonus, the rewrite of Dark Wolf Begins is coming soon so keep an eye on that along with Forces United 3! **

**If you like this story: follow or favorite this story for updates of the story. Make sure to review this chapter on what you thought of this story. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).**

**The question for this chapter: What do you want to see next for the next Forces United story?**

**Until next time, be nice, don't take your anger on others, tell others about your problems, may God be with you and look before you leap. Belt doesn't want you to become what he was before.**

**Keep on rocking,**

**TurquoiseTriangle...out...**


	11. Bonus Story 1 - Town Square Hangout

**AN: I'M BACK! You all thought that this story is over? Not yet!**

**Like I said, I have two bonus chapters I had made. When looking over the story, I noticed that it didn't have that much views, but I'll just put these bonus chapters up for the sake of it. **

**I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

**Bonus Story 1 – Town Square Hangout**

**13/12 (at 10:45 pm)**

Wolfgang, Bubblegum and I spent a huge part of this morning talking to the mayor about our adventure. We even told him about heading into the Forbidden Cave.

"WHAT?!" Mayor Wills exclaimed. "You risked your life to go into that?! You know that cave is dangerous and I don't want ANYONE to die in that heck-hole."

"Sorry sir…" said Bubblegum. "It was my choice and I was pretty curious about it."

He sighed. "Alright then. I will let you guys go…for now. If you do anything that's against the law, I will make a WORSE punishment than paying money!"

Bubblegum and I nodded nervously. Mayor Wills turned his attention to Wolfgang.

"Eddie Lehem," he said. "Since you're back here, I will give you back all your accounts and credentials. We took them away since we thought you were dead, but we kept them safe. I'm concerned about you. I'm going to send you to see a therapist for a few days. It must have been rough for you living alone for 4 years. Do you think you will be able to handle life right now here?"

Wolfgang nodded. "I think I can."

Mayor Wills smiled. "Alright then. I'm happy to say that you are no longer in trouble. You may be dismissed."

At this, we stood up and made our way out of the government building.

"Wow," said Wolfgang. "Yet I thought that the mayor would be very strict with you kids."

"You can say that again," I said.

Wolfgang looked at Bubblegum. "Sweetie, I didn't get the chance to tell you where you live now since I had to stay with the mayor for questions last night. Are you still living in your own home?"

Bubblegum shook her head. "No. I lived with Emerald now because her parents are close friends with you."

"Ah, I remember. Were you alright with them?"

"I was alright with them. I got to tell you this; being an 'older sister' of Emerald totally dialed up to eleven! It was crazy ever since I was accepted into their family. In case you're wondering, Mr and Mrs Stone allows you to stay with us. Now for house-keeping, listen up; the Stones are really picky about their house so DON'T DESTROY ANYTHING. OK? Emerald and I already broke one of the house rules."

"Wait," I said. "Which rule was that?"

"…Don't play loud music. We were toying with a beat-box. Apparently, Emerald put it too loud that the beat-box broke EVERY WINDOW IN THE HOUSE. The idiot had to pay for all that."

I put my hand over my mouth in shock. Wolfgang's eyes widened up.

"Well that's unexpected," he said.

"Yeah…" said Bubblegum sheepishly.

That was when Wolfgang noticed Bubblegum's tattoos.

"Beth?" he said.

"Yeah?" she said.

"Why are there tattoos on your arms?" he said.

He was looking at a skull tattoo with a red bow on the left arm and another one of the right arm showing the Resistance symbol.

"Sorry…" said Bubblegum. "Couldn't help. But don't worry; they're fake tattoos."

"Then that's fine for me," said Wolfgang.

We went towards Bubblegum's house. From there, we saw Sonic sleeping on the roof of the house. He was snoring loudly with his head resting on his hands. Last night, he was trying to find a good place to sleep, so he decided to crash at Bubblegum's house.

"Is there any other place for him to sleep?" said Wolfgang tilting his head.

"I guess he likes spending his time outsides," I said. "Not so tech-savvy like us."

At this, Bubblegum wore a deadpan expression, grabbed a bucket of water and threw it at Sonic.

SPLASH!

"YAH!" exclaimed Sonic from the effect of ice-cold water. He looked down to see us. "Who did that?"

"Enjoyed your beauty sleep?" said Bubblegum.

"Well apart from being attacked by water, I'm alright," said Sonic jumping down. "I guess I can spend the rest of the day sightseeing around the place."

"Mind if we can be your tour guide?" asked Wolfgang.

"I wouldn't say no to that," said Sonic.

All of a sudden, Bubblegum's phone started to ring.

"I have a call from someone," she said. "I'll catch you guys up later."

"OK then," I said.

"See you!" said Sonic as he and I walked off.

* * *

**Third Person's POV**

Wolfgang came up to Bubblegum and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"See you later my child," he said.

Bubblegum chuckled. "It won't be long. I'll follow you later."

Wolfgang smiled and walked off. Bubblegum then proceeded to answer the call.

"Hello," said Bubblegum.

"_Yello, soft kitty,_" came a familiar deep voice slightly seductive.

"Oh. Hi, Mecha. Shouldn't you be meeting me here at my house instead of calling me?"

"_Sorry. I just want to let you know this; remember that incident that happened at that New York museum?_"

"Yes. Why's that?"

"_They caught the criminal and got back all the missing goods. They found out that the Daynight piece was missing from that bag and started to ask the criminal what he did to the piece._"

Bubblegum started to get worried. "Did he told the police about us?"

"_No. He said that all he knew was that he was knocked out cold. I'm grateful that we made it out or they would be able to track us down through fingerprints. Funny thing that scientists are saying that the Daynight piece disappeared like magic. And get this; the headline in today's newspaper for the event is 'Criminal Got REKT by a Chipmunk'._"

Bubblegum was silent for a while until she blurted out, "What?"

"_No kidding. During that car chase, some idiot cops threw a chipmunk and it started to go crazy on that thief._"

"I'm starting to guess that critter took a lot of sugar."

"_Starting to think he's not the only one. Also, answering your first question, I'm at the town gates. There's a…ahem…'special' person there you might know._"

"Who?"

"_Well if you want to, you better find it out yourself, JULIET._"

At this, Mecha ended the call. Bubblegum was left dumbfounded by this. There was somebody at the gates waiting for her? And did Mecha called her 'Juliet'?

Bubblegum pondered at her thought. "Mecha said that there's somebody there I know before. Could it be…?"

The thought of this made her feel embarrassed. She quickly shook her head, shaking out the feeling. No. It got to be a prank from Mecha. Whatever it was, she was going to be humiliated and posted up on social media where EVERYONE could see what happened.

OK. Mecha used to do that when he was a bully, but still.

She sighed. Even though she knew it might be a trap, she was curious. She went back inside the house and grabbed her METAL BLACK BASEBALL BAT.

The same one she used to smash that rhino before.

She was going to find out what was going on and…

"If Mecha's going to make me look bad, I will bash his head in…" thought Bubblegum grimly.

* * *

**Belt's POV**

"So this is where you all battle out in the ring, huh?" Sonic said.

We were in front of the huge stadium. It's closed today as there's construction going on in there for a new track.

"Yeah," said Wolfgang. "Traditionally every month, we hold different tournaments so that teams can compete to win. There would be new sports or difficult activities that would happen every year so the arena will expand; even underground. Say Belt, I haven't been around here and I forgot most of the challenges here. I only remember back in MY days, we just only did sports. Care to tell me what's new for this generation?"

"Well, now there's parkour, go-karting and some kind of event that includes jumping one hundred meters on a trampoline doing wild tricks. There's more but it sounds complicated and bizarre..." I explained.

"That sounds fun!" said Sonic.

"I'm not sure 'fun' would be the exact word," I pointed out. "Some of them are only for fit people and…at least 16 people would have to go to the hospital by the end of a tournament. Trust me. This is a serious sport. Those tournaments are life-taking."

"I think I would be JUST FINE if I was in the tournaments. I've been through worse."

I sighed in a smug manner and checked my watch. Oh…

"Crap," I said. "I'm late to my shift."

"What?" said Wolfgang.

"I and Clay work at a cafe called 'Garden of Eden'," I said. "I got to go."

"We could come with you."

"Probably grab a few snacks from there."

I smiled. "Well if you're hungry, then come along. 'Our food is as beautiful as the Garden of Eden'…or at least what they say."

Hearing this, the two laughed.

"Oh, I remember," said Wolfgang. "When the first time they opened that restaurant, they use that catchphrase to get more customers. You know that's just business."

"Sometimes, lies work to gain attention," I said.

* * *

**Third Person's POV**

As Bubblegum made her way to the town gates, she was still in thought of what was going on there.

"Where is that green-blue dummy?" she thought. "If he's not doing a prank on me, he better tell me that there is a problem going on that's going to include the police."

She finally got to the town gates. She saw Mecha – the turquoise bird leaning on the gate. He had a smirk on his beak…that was until he saw the baseball bat Bubblegum carried. His smile turned into a flinty frown.

"I didn't tell you that there's an attack going on here," said Mecha sarcastically.

"But what's going on?" said Bubblegum putting the bat through a loop on her police vest. "Who's that person here?"

Mecha smiled. "Well…it's someone you…muhan jeonjaeng jung-e salang-e ppajyeossda!"

('Muhan jeonjaeng jung-e salang-e ppajyeossda' means 'Fell in love with during the Infinite War' in Korean)

Mecha's voice sounded charming and quirky. Bubblegum raised her right eye.

"Uhhhh…" she said dumbly. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Mecha laughed. "Then I'll let him come in, shall I?"

At this, he knocked on the gate and opened it. Bubblegum was surprised to see who it was.

It was an orange-brown male cat with dark brown eyes and wore a tan cap, a small green scarf, brown gloves, a brown collared shirt and brown shoes.

Bubblegum realized who it was. It was…

"R-Richard," she stuttered.

"Hi babe," said Richard nervously. "I'm here."

In an instant, Bubblegum wrapped her arms around him. Richard chuckled as he returned the hug. Bubblegum couldn't believe it. F.Y.I, Richard was Bubblegum's boyfriend during the war. Since he was the commander of the Resistance, he had to work at the Resistance HQ while Bubblegum chose to stay at her home. They kept in touch using face chat, but seeing Richard again makes Bubblegum's heart warmed up.

Richard gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

"It's been so long since I saw you," said Bubblegum, nearly crying.

"Same," said Richard. "You still look so beautiful!"

They both broke away from the hug.

"Why do you decide to visit here?" asked Bubblegum.

"I'm taking a quick break," said Richard. "The Resistance is on a mini hiatus for a few weeks due to construction at the HQ. I gave you a text saying I'm coming here, did you see it?"

"Right…no," said Bubblegum. "I was away on a journey so I didn't have the time to check my phone."

"Heh. Mecha just told me about the adventure you had. You know, the Resistance would have helped if Sonic didn't decided to go on his investigations."

Mecha snickered. "Some people with high levels of sass would prefer to go on their own."

"Anyway, where's that Clay Rookie and Sonic?" asked Richard. "Are they here?"

"Yes," said Bubblegum. "Care if I show you around?"

"Sure," said Richard.

The two cats hold hand in hand and started to walk into the streets while Mecha followed them.

"It's so different being here than back in America," said Richard. "How come it's sunny and a bit humid in this place?"

"Who knows?" said Bubblegum and Mecha shrugging.

"By the way," said Bubblegum. "How's the Resistance? What were they doing while we were away? I heard about this 'Metal Virus' incident before, but…"

"Well after you guys left," explained Richard. "We had several squads to travel around to find any more attacks happening in different cities. We even picked up that Eggman have returned, but no attacks from him so far this month. During the chaos happening, we also lost a lot of good people who helped."

Richard sounded sad saying that. Bubblegum placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Well at least you were able to handle it," she said.

"You made sure that it was worth it," said Mecha.

"It would be nice if you guys would have helped us," said Richard.

"You know that we will only help for special emergency," said Bubblegum. "We told the Resistance after the war."

"Not to make anyone worried, but what if Eggman launched another worldwide war?" asked Mecha.

"Well," said Richard. "If anyone dares to do that, we have to be the best of the best."

Then all of a sudden, Richard stopped.

"Also, I want to tell you guys this," said Richard.

"What is it?" said Bubblegum.

"Remember that monster Infinite?"

Hearing this made both Bubblegum and Mecha worried.

"Why's that?" said Bubblegum.

"Well…" said Richard. "During an investigation due to robots attacking different towns, Team Chaotix investigated the Final Egg Fortress. They reported that they found Infinite in one of the large test chambers filled with water. He…didn't seem to be moving or awake. He got wires attached to his body. The Phantom Ruby was missing from his chest and left a large scar on it." **[1]**

"Does that mean…?" said Bubblegum. "He's still alive."

Richard shook his head. "No. The monitor that was connected to that test chamber said the heart levels were low. He's dead."

Hearing this shocked Bubblegum. She put her hand over her mouth. "Oh…my…gosh. So I guess we came to the conclusion that he died after his defeat."

"Yes," said Richard with a look of cold determination. "It's about time that bastard died already. He hurt a lot of people, killed innocent lives and destroyed homes. He doesn't deserve to exist anymore! Hopefully that freak won't show his face on Earth EVER AGAIN."

The tone of Richard's voice sounded angry. As Richard talked, Bubblegum understood that. During the Infinite War, almost everyone held a grudge against Infinite; that masked monster who nearly perished everyone. Bubblegum wasn't really one of the haters as because she learnt to be nicer, she didn't wish to hold a grudge towards people anymore after what happened with her and Mecha.

And speaking of Mecha, his eyes were narrowed. Richard stopped when he saw Mecha burning.

"Sorry…" said Richard. "I'm…I'm just really upset about all of this. It's just that if it wasn't for Infinite, I wouldn't have lost my family. I know that you were once a friend of that jackal, but-"

Mecha waved his hand as a gesture to be quiet. He closed his eyes, shook his head and opened his eyes.

"You know what? Why does that matter?" said Mecha. "Zero…I mean Infinite is gone already. We shouldn't be talking about that or the Infinite War."

Richard nodded. "You're right. Sorry for bringing up that topic."

"It's OK," said Bubblegum. "Let's just go."

They started to continue walking. Bubblegum took another quick glance at Mecha before looking front.

"All along I thought Infinite faded away," thought Bubblegum. "Maybe the ruby used up its last energy to transport him to those test tubes."

She nearly stopped when something came up in her mind.

"Wait," thought Bubblegum. "Mecha…when I saw him…he looked…"

Thinking again, she tried to remember the look on Mecha's eyes. They seemed to darken a bit and they were…purple?

"Were his eyes partly purple?" she thought. "Why's that?"

Bubblegum started to wonder if she was hallucinating. She thought again and she also remembered Mecha's eyes having a gradient of brown and purple before he closed his eyes.

"Nah. Probably nothing. I'll think about that later. For now, I need to enjoy myself for today," she thought.

* * *

**Belt's POV**

I was able to get to the cafe in time and I found Clay at the front counter along with Sebastian there, as usual – leaning on his seat with his feet on the table and drinking a fizzy drink. Wolfgang and Sonic ordered something to eat.

"This coffee is still tasty like the last time I tasted it," said Wolfgang sipping his drink. "It is as beautiful as the Garden of Eden."

"The only thing missing from this cafe is chili dogs," said Sonic.

"You wish," said Clay, partly disgusted hearing that.

"Say, why you two decided to work here at this café do?"

"Well, after we moved into this town," I explained. "We went out to look for a job to pay the rent for our new home – you need to pay in order not to be evicted. I do work as a newspaper-seller man before, but I thought that Clay and I should work together. Then, we decided to settle on being café barristers."

"They are pretty good cooks!" said Sebastian. "Order something big and they will finish it up in a minute."

Both Clay and I laughed. "As if."

At this, Clay noticed something.

"Hmm?" he said. "Who's that there?"

I looked up to see Mecha and Bubblegum at the door along with…

"Richard?" Sonic said.

"The one and the only one!" said Richard jokingly.

"Oh, hi there," said Clay playfully saluting.

Richard saluted as well.

"Who's this?" said Wolfgang.

"Oh," said Bubblegum. "Richard, I would like to introduce you to my dad; Eddie Lehem. We found him alive during our adventure."

"Really?" said Richard. "Interesting."

Wolfgang raised his hand and Richard shook his. "Call me Wolfgang for now."

"OK then," said Richard sitting down.

"Richard Berlin is the commander of the Resistance AND he's your daughter's sweetheart," said Mecha teasingly.

"Oh really?" said Wolfgang looking at Bubblegum. "So this is your boyfriend? Gotta say Beth, he's a beautiful specimen. You sure know how to pick them."

Hearing this made both Richard and Bubblegum to laugh nervously and blush. Mecha snickered while Sebastian, Clay and I tried not to laugh so loud.

"So this is what you're working on now, huh?" said Richard looking at me and Clay.

"Kind of," said Clay. "We are partly planning on what is next for the Black Squad and might get new members."

"That's a good thing to know."

Sebastian came up to the counter, throwing his can in the rubbish bin. "Another 200 Cola Can please."

"OK," I said reluctantly taking one from the drink fridge.

"Are you sure?" Clay asked. "This is your FOURTH can for today."

"I can handle it," said Sebastian tossing us the money.

"Huh?" said Richard with a delayed reaction. "What's 200 Cola?"

"It's a drink made by an unofficial company," I said giving Sebastian his drink.

"Hmm…may I try one please?"

"You could have a quick sip at mine," said Sebastian popping his can open.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," said Bubblegum.

"It's fine," said Richard. "It's not like its poisonous or anything."

He took a long sip of the can and for a minute, everything seemed OK…but then, he nearly choked.

"OH MY ROD!" he said quickly swallowing the liquid. "How much sugar they put in that stuff?"

"I tried to warn you…" said Bubblegum deadpanned.

"Yeah…" said Sebastian taking back his drink. "That drink contains a lot of sugar. I'm surprised that you are not one of those people who are not allowed to have sugar."

"Emerald is the worst," said Bubblegum.

This caught both Richard's and Wolfgang's attention.

"Why's that?" asked Wolfgang.

"Oh lord, Emerald can't have sugar and yet it is STILL hard to control her from having any candy," said Bubblegum. "I first found out about this a few years ago."

* * *

**Third Person's POV, 2 years ago**

_"YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHH BOOOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIIIIIIIII…" whooped Emerald as she ran through the streets at the speed of light._

_"EMERALD!" exclaimed Bubblegum trying to catch up with the fast rabbit. "COME BACK HERE! CALM DOWN!"_

_As she chased the wild sugar-crazed kid, many people on the sidelines watching the chase awkwardly. It was making a HUGE scene in the town._

_When nobody thought Emerald would stop, she accidentally collided with another person._

_WHAM!_

_She and that person fell down. Emerald laid on the ground, not moving. She had FINALLY worn herself out._

_Bubblegum quickly caught up and saw the mess. The person groaned and stood. Bubblegum recognized the person._

_It was Xander; a male pink bear with black stripes on his ears and wore a teal sleeveless hoodie (the hood on his head with his ears popping out from it), a black shirt, a teal left leather glove, a gold right leather glove, a large dark purple belt, black pants with pink lightning stripes and black shoes with yellow tongues._

_"Oh my," said Bubblegum. "Sorry, Xander."_

_"Meh. It's nothing," said Xander._

_"Typical him," thought Bubblegum. "Hell, even a punch to the head would be NOTHING new for him."_

_"What's going on with HER?" asked Xander pointing to the unconscious Emerald._

_"I don't really know," said Bubblegum. "I gave her a 200 Cola can and when she drank it, she went CRAZY."_

_The bear noticed the can Emerald was holding and examined it._

_"Er…Bubblegum," said Xander. "You might need to see this."_

_He held the can up and pointed to the ingredients list. Bubblegum looked at it…and what she saw made her heart nearly stopped._

_"TWENTY THOUSAND GRAMS OF SUGAR?!" she screamed. "ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?"_

* * *

**Belt's POV**

"Because of this, I had to try to keep Emerald away from anything that contains sugar," said Bubblegum.

"Did she tried to take some though?" asked Richard.

"Well yes," said Bubblegum. "I mean…I didn't tell Emerald that she isn't allowed to have sugar again. I don't want her to feel upset during that time. However, the last time when she ate sugar, that was the LAST STRAW."

Mecha winced. "Please don't tell them about it. I DON'T want to remember it."

"Anyway," said Bubblegum ignoring Mecha. "Last year, I and Emerald went to a restaurant for dinner by ourselves since her parents were busy at the moment and the unexpected happened…"

* * *

**Third Person's POV, A year ago**

_Bubblegum and Emerald got into the main dining hall after taking a leak in the bathroom. The pink cat looked around. The walls were in a bright rose color with amazing curl patterns on them. The floor represented a chessboard. There was a stage at the back where performers would perform for the night. Pink and blue spotlights filled the room. Many people were seated in round blue tables eating a range of delicious food._

_"This place is crowded today," said Bubblegum. "I guess everyone wants to break it on happy hour."_

_"The bar seats are empty," said Emerald pointing to the bar nearby. "Maybe we could sit there."_

_They headed to the bar and then a waiter came from the bar counter. It was…_

_"Mecha?" said Bubblegum surprised._

_Now just to note, this happened BEFORE the Infinite War and during that time, Mecha was a bully back then._

_"Well hey there losers," sneered Mecha. He was wearing a white cap with the restaurant logo on it, white gloves, a white collared shirt and his usual sneakers._

_Bubblegum glared at the smirking bird. "What are you doing here?"_

_Mecha slightly frowned as he tried to explain himself._

_"Erm…this is my fourteenth job. I had to make a lot of money as I'm living by myself now," explained Mecha._

_"Fourteenth?" said Bubblegum slightly surprised._

_"Nice hat," said Emerald._

_Mecha laughed dryly. "Wish I could say the same. I HAVE to take off my goggles for this job. Anyway, what can little Mechy do for you girls today?"_

_"We would like-" said Bubblegum only to be cut off by Emerald._

_"Excuse me, Bubblegum," said Emerald. "I don't know where my phone is. I believe I accidentally dropped it in the sink. Can you go get it for me?"_

_Bubblegum showed no sign of disturbance. "OK, sister. I will be right back."_

_The pink cat stood up and walked off. The second she was gone, Emerald turned around to face Mecha._

_"One triple Neapolitan banana split ice cream sundae please!" said Emerald giving the turquoise a five dollar note._

_"OK," said Mecha smugly._

_He made his way to the ice cream container and started to scoop at least 6 balls of ice creams in different flavors. He threw them on a silver cup. He then grabbed two bananas and put them on each side of the sundae before finishing it with pouring triple chocolate fudge sauce, rainbow sprinkles and a cherry on top._

_"Here you go!" said Mecha giving Emerald the sundae. "Here's your ice cream sundae. Mech no mistakes! This is best sundae in the world!"_

_"Thank you!" said Emerald before eyeing the ice cream. "Ooh!"_

_She grabbed the spoon and gleefully eat rapidly. This caught Mecha by surprise. As Emerald ate, LARGE CHUNKS OF ICE CREAM FLEW AND COVERED UP MECHA._

_Emerald burped loudly. "Oops. Pardon me. My! This IS really the best sundae in the world!"_

_She took out another five dollar note. "Waiter! Another round please!"_

_Mecha stared at Emerald in confusion. "Oooookay…"_

_He noticed that Emerald's pupils had gone…really small. Something didn't look right. Needless to say, he just gave her another one. Like last time, Emerald rapidly finished her ice cream and caused a lot of the creamy sweet goodness to splat the unfortunate bird._

_"Oh, waiter!" said Emerald. "One more please!"_

_Sighing, Mecha gave her another sundae. Emerald whooped in joy._

_This continued on for the next painful thirty minutes. Emerald would keep on asking Mecha for more ice cream and the bird would be drenched in sticky fudgy ice cream, making him wished he got his goggles._

_"Waiter! Oh, waiter! Waiter! Wai…toor…WAITER! WAITER! WAITER! WAITER!" chanted Emerald every time she finished a sundae._

_At that moment, both of them were covered in sweet sauce. Mecha started to wonder why Emerald was acting like this. And then it hit him; Nicki told him once that she spotted Emerald running around like an idiot due to a sugar buzz. Mecha laughed at this, but on this day, he ain't laughing. Now, he realized how it felt like when trying to keep Emerald away from sugar. He wanted to stop, but he couldn't; he needed the money and it was his job to serve the customers._

_"Why do I always remember VERY IMPORTANT THINGS at the WRONG TIME?" complained Mecha as he made another sundae._

_When Bubblegum came back, she was in for a surprise. A NASTY surprise._

_"I couldn't find her phone," she thought worriedly. "How am I supposed to tell her-"_

_Her thought was put to a stop. What she saw made her recent worries flew out of the window._

_There on stage was Emerald. Partly covered in chocolate. And wearing a pink dress._

_She was singing and dancing, but how she did it looked like she was doing a skit. The crowd were laughing their heads off – most of them holding their phones and recording the foolish rabbit – while others just stared in shock._

_"What the…?" thought Bubblegum. "Why is she acting like this?"_

_She looked at the bar which was partly covered in ice cream, fudge sauce and sprinkles. From there, she could see Mecha lying his head on the table._

_Bubblegum came to the table and founded a receipt on one of the seats. She picked it up and it read…_

_"256 SUNDAES!" she exclaimed. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"_

_She looked at the ice cream containers; they were all empty and out. She looked back at Mecha._

_"You son of a glitch!" she snarled thinking it was Mecha who set all of this up. "What did you do?!"_

_Mecha made no response. His head was just lying on the table._

_"Mecha! Mecha?" said Bubblegum before lifting his head up. She got a good look of his face. He was covered in frosty white, brown and pink cream. His beak was crooked and in a twisted frown. The thing that stood out was his eyes. They were twitching and bloodshot as if he was watching too many horror shows. He muttered something in Swedish._

_To her surprise, Bubblegum realized what Emerald did; she set up a false alarm so that she could have a LOT of sundaes and that Bubblegum wouldn't be there to stop her._

_"This is for all the astronomers in the room!" came Emerald's voice. "Get ready to see the dark side of the moon!"_

_At this, Bubblegum turned to look at the stage…and what she saw was HORRIFYING. Mecha woke up from his trauma and like Bubblegum…his eyes widened up by what he saw._

_"AND HERE'S URANUS!" said Emerald._

_Overwhelmed, Mecha's eyes rolled to the front and he collapsed on his back. As he hit the floor, he kicked his feet up causing his sneakers to fly and hit on the head._

_Bubblegum looked at the passed-out Mecha. Despite not liking him, she felt sorry for Mecha._

_"Poor bird," she thought. "I guess he REALLY does not like Emerald's sugar rush. Unlike me, he seems to take this the hardest."_

_"And now!" said Emerald. "Here is my last performance for tonight. It's a little ditty called…WAAAAIIITOOOORRR!"_

_And just like that, her sugar crush fizzled out. She fainted face-first._

_The whole room was silent as everyone stared at the unconscious Emerald._

_Bubblegum sighed in annoyance. "Oh for crime's sake."_

* * *

**Belt's POV**

Upon hearing the story, Mecha winced many times. I guess he didn't like to remember about it.

"And we all lived happily ever after," said Bubblegum sarcastically. "Or for the rest of the night. I had to drag her back home and clean her. When she woke up, I made her promise not to eat any more sugar again…EVER!"

"Speak for yourselves," said Richard. "I have a younger cousin and whenever he takes candy, he would be hyper for at least THREE DAYS. I guess it was very difficult for you to take care of Emerald."

"Not really. For the last few months, she was alright. She hasn't taken any sugar for a while."

For all of a sudden, Clay looked worried. "Um, Belt?"

"Yes," I said.

"Did you remember to lock the back door behind you?"

"Huh? No. I thought you did."

"You know that anyone who doesn't work here can bust in."

"Relax. Nobody's gonna-"

"WHOO!" came in Emerald's voice from the kitchen. "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

"Emerald?!" said Bubblegum in shock.

"I thought YOU locked the door," I said looking at Clay.

"I thought YOU did!" said Clay.

I sighed. "She must have followed me."

Clay, Bubblegum and I peered into the kitchen to find Emerald drinking not just ONE – not TWO – but FOUR CANS OF 200 COLA. Her eyes were closed as she guzzled down the drink. And then…she froze. Her eyes snapped open and her pupils were very small.

"Oh no," whimpered Bubblegum. "Not again."

"YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHH BOOOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIIIIIIIII…" whooped Emerald as she started to run in the speed of light and ran out of the café door.

We all watched as the hyper Emerald ran through the streets, while other people just stared at the scene.

"Let's just leave her," said Bubblegum. "She'll tired herself out. I'm already sick of her stupid crap."

* * *

After Clay and I finished our shift at the cafe, we headed back home.

"Oh um," I said. "Clay. I need to show you something."

I took out something from my utility belt. It was the red and turquoise yang necklace; the one Wolfgang accidently destroyed.

Clay looked shocked to see it in pieces. "Oh my gosh. What happened to it?"

"There was…a brief fight between me and Wolfgang during our adventure. He lost control and he accidently scratched the necklace to pieces. He also gave me that scar on my eye. Sorry about it," I said.

"It's OK," said Clay, taking his necklace off. "You know that I made two of them. You can have mine."

He gave me the second yang necklace and placed it over my neck.

I looked at it before smiling. I gave Clay a hug. "Thank you, brother."

"You're welcome," he said.

* * *

**A few days later…**

Sonic and Richard had stayed at our town for a while. Sonic enjoyed himself and Richard spent a lot of time with Bubblegum. Now, it was time for them to go. Clay, Bubblegum and I decided to meet those two at the town gates before they head off.

"We're going to see you again, right?" said Sonic.

"Of course," I said. "It was nice having you over at our town."

"Oh, Clay," said Sonic taking something out. "I got something I believe that might be yours."

He took out a necklace. It was a wooden cross. Clay gasped as he saw it. It was the necklace he wore before giving it to Sonic after the Infinite War.

"Oh…" said Clay as he took it. "That. You know that you don't have to give it back to me."

"It's fine," said Sonic. "I think that this necklace should be yours."

At this, both Clay and I hugged him. I couldn't help it.

"Whoa," he laughed. "Take it easy, boys."

"Sorry," said Clay. "I can't help it. You've been a good friend to us."

"Yeah," I said. "I should probably thank you for what you taught you."

Sonic gave us the thumbs up. "That's cool. Hopefully you might come up with your own morals."

I saw on the other side, Bubblegum and Richard were talking to each other.

"You know I have to go," said Richard. "I still have to run the Resistance. Someone's got to look after the people there."

"It's nice of you to do that," said Bubblegum. "I'll be OK."

"I guess I'll see you later, my lady."

"Au revoir, fine gentleman. See you later soon."

The two chuckled and gave each other a kiss…or at least a long one.

"Geez, get a room you guys," Clay and I said in unison.

They stopped and looked at us. Bubblegum nervously laughed. Richard turned his attention to Sonic.

"Need a hand to get back home?" asked Richard.

"Sure," said Sonic. He turned to us. "See you later, pals!"

Both I and Clay waved goodbye. Bubblegum smiled.

"Take care out there!" she said.

Sonic gave us one last grin before grabbing Richard's hand and ran off.

"HEY WAIT!" we heard Richard as they dashed off. "SLOW DOWN! I HAVEN'T EVEN TOLD YOU WHERE I PARKED THE AIRCRAFT AT!"

"Heh," I said. "That hedgehog always go ahead before he thinks."

"Yeah," said Clay.

"C'mon guys," said Bubblegum. "There's still more to come. Remember about our plans for the Black Squad."

I nodded.

"I got some ideas. Follow me," said Bubblegum before walking off.

Clay and I followed her. I took a deep breath. Even though the threat of Dark Gaia was over, there was still more to come. Like what both Bubblegum and Wolfgang said before, we need to make the world a better place.

"I'll make sure we will," I thought. "And darn, it will be a hell of an adventure!"

* * *

**Third Person's POV, A month later, Mecha's house (at midnight)**

The silence filled the streets of Forest Tournament Town as everyone fell asleep for the night. The post lamps were kept on. Everyone was having a good sleep.

"Ugh…please…stop…"

Well, eventually.

In Mecha's house, he tossed around in bed as he started to have a nightmare. Or more of a nightmare to be exact.

_"STOP, IT PLEASE! IT HURTS!"_

_WHAM!_

_"YOU THINK YOU'RE SOMETHING?! YOU THINK YOU'RE SOMEONE?! YOU'RE NOTHING! NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING!"_

_"Mum…"_

_"If you ever mention about your father to anyone ever again, I'LL MAKE YOU WISH YOU WERE NEVER BORN!"_

"STOP!" cried Mecha as he woke up.

He started to breath heavily. He looked around. He was in his bedroom. His own house. His home away from home.

"Another dream…" he said. "Why do I keep having them? I haven't had such bad nightmares like those before? And clearly, I'm not suffering from P-"

All of a sudden, he felt a pang of pain to his head. Feeling darkness for some reason infecting his mind, he let out a squawk and held onto his head.

**_"You're a mistake."_**

"What the?" he groaned. "Where did that-"

**_"You're a mistake."_**

"Stop…please…just leave me alone…"

And just like that, more voices came to his head.

_"YOU THINK YOU'RE SOMETHING?! YOU THINK YOU'RE SOMEONE?! YOU'RE NOTHING! NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING! If you ever say anything about your father to anyone ever again, I'LL MAKE YOU WISH YOU WERE NEVER BORN! Now I'm stuck with you. The biggest mistake I EVER made."_

"Please…" cried Mecha. "Dad…why did you abandoned us…?"

Suddenly, he heard somebody tripping over, snapping him out from his emotions. Then, there was talking. Fearing that somebody had broken into his house, Mecha grabbed his Wispon nearby and slowly made his way to his door.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Immediately, he opened the door and swung his Wispon at his attacker…or at least what HE THOUGHT was his attacker.

He stared dumbly as Nicki laid to the ground.

"OW, GOD!" yelled Nicki.

"N-Nicki?" said Mecha regretting what he did.

Feeling guilt, Mecha started to hold onto his head and collapsed onto the bed. When Nicki adjusted herself, she stood up to see a trembling Mecha curled up into a ball.

"Mecha?" said Nicki.

The turquoise bird muttered something foreign.

"Mecha," said Nicki again. "It's OK. I'm here."

Sitting up, Mecha glared at his sister. "What are you doing here?"

Nicki crossed her arms. "I thought you would say 'how did you get in'?"

Mecha rolled his eyes. "I already know how because you would spy on me sometimes."

"I just came here because…there's been a bit of an argument between me and mum. I thought maybe I can come to your place and sleep with you for the night."

Mecha scoffed. "What do you think we are? Children? We're not BABIES sleeping together in a cradle anymore."

"We're like 15 YEARS OLD. That's still young. Besides, I'm your sister."

For the second time for the night, Mecha felt another pain in his body. His right hand immediately held onto his head and his left arm held onto his stomach. He started to scream and cry as he started to hear more dark voices.

Nicki got concerned. She slowly went up to her brother. "Mecha?"

"L-leave me alone," sputtered the crying bird.

"Brother. Just tell me what's going on."

"Just go…"

"Mecha. I rather hear your heartache then letting you keep your sadness inside you and becoming the bully you were before. Will you just-"

"**I SAID TO LEAVE ME ALONE!**" screeched Mecha for all of a sudden.

At this, he wrapped his arms around Nicki's neck and started to strangle her. Nicki struggled to breath and she got a good look in Mecha's angry eyes; they were flaming purple.

"MECHA?!" said Nicki. "MECHA!"

Unable to hold it for long, she started to spill tears. Seeing this, Mecha snapped out of his rage and cowered backwards.

"Oh no, no, no, no…" he mumbled. "Not again…"

Suddenly, a memory came to his mind; it was the time when he and Nicki were 10 years old. The latter was annoying the former and completely ticked off, Mecha threw his sister down the stairs. The cyan bird bounced down the stairs before hitting the floor with a loud bang. Mecha's eyes widened as he saw Nicki started to cry.

"What have I done?" he thought on that day.

That was the start of his fear of hurting his friends; his close ones.

And at that moment, it was happening again.

Crying, Mecha dug his beak between his legs. Quickly reviving, Nicki stood up.

"Mecha?" she said.

"Please just…go…" croaked Mecha through tears.

"No. I'm not leaving until I get answers. Tell me what's going on."

Mecha hesitated before spitting out the words. "Honestly, I'm not sure what's going on. I'm feeling like I lost my way and I feel like a…a…a mistake. I'm sorry for what I did. I…I don't know what's going on for the past few days."

Nicki went up close to her brother and lifted up his face. She saw that his eyes were still purple and there were large streams of tears coming from the corner of his eyes, making their way down his beak.

"So just for your own safety…please go…stay away from me…" cried Mecha, his voice breaking. "I'm afraid that the monster's still inside me. Maybe I'm still a bully. It must be uncomfortable for you to be with me…"

"Whoa!" said Nicki. "That was YOU before. The 'you' now is NOW. Don't compare yourself to how you were before. I'm here for you. I'm really concerned about you! You still distance yourself away from the rest of the family. Do you think there was any other reason why I came here tonight?"

Mecha stayed quiet for a while. "I'm sorry, sis. I just feel like…there's no one I could trust nor no one trust me anymore…"

With no other choice, Nicki gave Mecha a big sister hug. Mecha was shocked by that.

"You're still the biggest dummy I know," said Nicki. "Don't let that fear get to you."

She pushed Mecha slightly so that he could move over on the side of the bed a bit.

"I'll crash here for the night!" said Nicki. "You don't mind me sleeping with you?"

Mecha stared at her sister, not wondering what to say. Then, he felt at ease and calmed down. He might be struggling, but at least his sister was here for him.

"I guess…" he said.

"Then goodnight then," said Nicki as she put the blanket over her and laid her head on the left pillow.

Mecha just stared at nothing for a while. Then he smiled, his eyes turned back to the normal hazel brown; finally coming to terms.

"Thank you, Nicki," he said. "For coming."

Closing his eyes, he placed the blanket over him and laid his head onto the right pillow. The two siblings slept side by side.

* * *

**AN: (in Markiplier's voice) Oooooooooooohh...that's not good.**

***cough 2x* Sorry, couldn't help it. It looks like the monster might STILL be in him...not in the way he thinks though.**

**[1] This takes place between Issue 4 and 5 from the Sonic The Hedgehog IDW Comics. Nobody knows what happened to Infinite, especially when he was sent flying into the Fortress, so I decided to add that he is now stuck in one of the scientific tubes, unable to use the ruby ever again.**

**F.Y.I. I came up with the backstories of Emerald's sugar crush (*shudders*) just to add humor. The fact that Emerald became ice-cream-drunk and made a fool of herself on stage was inspired from a scene from 'The Spongebob Squarepants Movie' and when Sheldon got drunk in 'The Big Bang Theory'. **

**Don't ask me why there are 20 thousand grams of sugar in 200 Cola! I know it's stupid, but I can't help. That would be one drink Emerald should stay away from!**

**If you like this story, please follow or favorite this story for updates of the story. Make sure to review this chapter on what you thought of this story. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).**

**One more chapter to go! Just wait and see what it is going to be!**

**Until next time, keep on rocking!**


	12. Bonus Story 2 - XMAS Special

**AN: Hey there, rock 'n' rollers! I'm back with the final bonus chapter of Resist the Dark. Sorry for not updating this story. I kind of forgot about it. I just came back from my trip to Malaysia, so I'm good now.**

**This is a CHRISTMAS chapter! I was inspired by the Christmas Epilogue in SuperKirbyLand234's 'Light of Hope' story, so I cooked something up.**

**Just to note that the chapter has some references to the 2018 and 2019 Christmas episodes from SMG4.**

**The scene where Tom is chasing Mecha comes from Alex Spider's 'Squid Store Sneakin'.**

**Now, sit back and enjoy this special story!**

* * *

**Bonus Story 2 – XMAS Special**

**Third Person's POV, 25/12 (at 6:30 pm)**

The entire Forest Tournament Town was lit up in colorful lights as the final hours of Christmas commenced. Even though it was humid during that time, the weather didn't stop anyone to be in the Christmas mood. Lights lit up the streets, wreaths were hung on doors and red ribbons were tied into bows on lamp posts or letterboxes. Some houses decided to overdo as they were covered in gigantic Christmas decorations like a large snowman and a huge Christmas tree in almost every garden.

Of course, the Colourz Brothers – Clay and Belt – were one of the people who really like Christmas. Even though they didn't bother to put up decorations for their house, at least they put up their old Christmas tree. It still looked fine as if it was just fresh 4 seconds ago…if it wasn't for Clay who accidentally toppled it onto the floor.

The tree was Clay's idea, even though the two of them were teenagers now.

Due to the hot weather, both of them were wearing t-shirts and shorts; Clay wore a black shirt and Belt wore a white shirt. The ones they wore sometimes as pajamas.

"I can't believe this is our first Christmas here together in town," said Clay as he placed the star on top of the tree. "We get to join a party that's happening at Bubblegum's and Emerald's house."

"Yeah," said Belt. "It's so much better than just us celebrating Christmas all by ourselves in that tree-house. This year, we get to celebrate it with our friends; possibly our new family."

Their doorbell rang and Belt was the first to notice it.

"I got it," he said, going to the door.

He opened it up to see a postman with a package.

"Hello there," said the postman. "Is this for…'Clay and Belt CoGO?'"

Belt sighed in annoyance. "It's CoLOURZ, with an 'L', 'O', 'U', 'R' and a 'Z'."

"Oops," said the postman as Belt took the package. "Must have been a typo. Anyway, you're most welcome, Mr Colourz."

When the postman left, Clay came up to Belt and noticed the package.

"Huh?" he said. "What's that?"

"A present, obviously," said Belt. "It must be from Lucian."

Clay looked surprised. "Who's Lucian?"

"Oh…I haven't told you about him yet. Lucian is our cousin who lives somewhere in America. I only saw him once when I was very young. I don't remember much about him except that his face. He has purple fur and his skin is tan. He's a year younger than me."

"How come he send that package to us? Does he know we live here?"

"…kind of. When our parents died, he must have thought we were gone as well. Just after the Infinite War, I think he found out about us, so he must have gave us this."

At this, Belt opened the package revealing two mouth bandannas in two different colors. One ice blue and one dark grey.

"Huh?" said Belt confused. "Scarfs?"

"At least they are good clothes to wear," said Clay, gingerly taking the dark grey one.

Respectively, Belt took the ice blue bandanna. The two wolves took the bandannas and tied them around their necks, making a good look on them.

"It looks good on you, Belt," said Clay.

"It looks good on you too, Clay," said Belt.

They both laughed at the compliments.

"Why don't we go outside?" said Belt. "Can't always stay inside for too long."

"OK," said Clay despite being an inside person.

They both went outside and walked through the streets. There were a lot of people playing on the streets. Even though their country hardly snowed, the civilians still did many activities; mostly sports.

They both saw Bubblegum's and Emerald's house which was covered in LED lights and ribbons. The house almost looked like the aftermath of a wild party. Wolfgang was on top of the house roof, doing the final touch.

"Hey there, Wolfgang!" called Clay and Belt in unison.

The lavender cat noticed them. "Oh hey boys! I think that's the last of the lights! Let's light this house up."

He pressed a button and in an instant, the decorations light up. They were all in different colors, nearly representing a rainbow.

"Wow!" said Clay in surprise.

"That's impressive," said Belt.

"You can call me the god of light!" boasted Wolfgang…before he slipped his foot. Due to the house being two levels high, he fell down and banged onto the first level roof before tangling himself in the lights.

"OH CRAP!" the two wolves said in unison.

They quickly came up to the helpless Wolfgang and helped him untangle the ropes.

"Anyway…" said Wolfgang, rubbing the side of his head which was partly bruised. "What are you two twins doing here? Are you here to help out?"

"We are just taking a hike," said Clay. "Decided to get some fresh air."

"Where's Bubblegum and Emerald?" asked Belt.

"They went to the mall to go shopping," explained Wolfgang. "I decided to help the Stones to decorate the house. Say, mind if you come with me. Might as well join those two girls."

"OK then," Clay said.

"That's cool," said Belt.

The trio started to head towards the mall. Normally at this time of hour – or to say during CHRISTMAS – the shopping centre would be packed with people wanting to buy food, clothes or whatever junk that's on low price. To Clay's and Belt's surprise, there was an average fair amount of people at the mall. Maybe it was because they mistake that a lot of people would come shopping on Christmas Day…not BEFORE.

They found Bubblegum and Emerald outside the mall near one of the stores. Beside them was a large trolley packed with bags.

"Oh my gosh," said Belt. "Those things must have cost a FORTUNE."

"And Emerald seems to want more," said Clay matter-of-factly.

That's right. Emerald's face was pressed against the shop window, spotting a beautiful sparkling blue-lavender dress. It was shiny and covered with glitter.

"YOU ARE ALREADY MINE!" she squealed as continued to stare at the dress. "I will get you and I will wear you…SO CUTE…I NEED IT…GIMME!"

Bubblegum waved at the three males nervously. Both Clay and Belt were already VERY disturbed by Emerald's lust for clothes.

"Hi guys…" said Bubblegum nervously before quickly dragging Emerald away from the window so that the latter could face in front.

"Oh!" said Emerald cheerfully, all of a sudden snapped out from her craziness. "Hi guys!"

"That's a lot of stuff you bought," said Clay, eyeing the full trolley. "Do you REALLY think you could buy EVERYTHING?"

"It's Christmas today!" was Emerald's only excuse. "All products here are on low price with new things to get, new features and most importantly…"

She pressed her face on the shop window again. "It's a competition to get the best clothes in the world in one minute..."

She continued to marvel the products she saw. Clay and Belt awkwardly looked at each other.

"Hey dudes!" came a familiar voice.

The two brothers looked on their right to see Sebastian coming up.

"Oh, hi Sebastian," said Bubblegum.

"Let me guess," said Clay. "You came here to buy more clothes, are you?"

"Sure I am!" said Sebastian. "All the products at my favorite company is 50% off for today! Want to join me? I can buy you some."

"Uh…" said Clay, feeling uncomfortable. He wasn't much of a shopper and didn't like to try ONE HUNDRED DIFFERENT PAIRS OF SHOES FOR A FREAKING DAY. "I think we are alright. We should be on our way-"

"That sounds nice," said Belt.

"WAIT! NO!" screamed Clay in his mind.

But it was too late.

"ALRIGHT!" said Sebastian, grabbing Clay and Belt on the hand and ran inside the mall. Clay tried to stop by pressing his feet on the floor, but Sebastian was too strong. Belt was rather surprised by Sebastian's excitement.

From behind, Bubblegum and Wolfgang just watched in the background, both sweat-dropping. Sebastian was EVER WORSE in shopping and the Colourz brothers were going to be in 'hell'.

As they haplessly were dragged to one of the shops by an adrenaline-filled Sebastian, Clay gave Belt a quick glare.

"**I'll be the one who will bury you in your grave, brother,**" growled Clay.

* * *

Mecha sighed as he came out from one of the shops. It had been an hour already and yet he couldn't find what he wanted.

"My younger brother always want to get those golden goggles for this year," he thought grimly. "It's the first time in years that I'm giving something for my siblings. I can't find those goggles. The stock is low and the chance of me finding one is infinitesimally small. How in the world will I find one?"

He looked up to see the '2 Dollar Store'. He didn't go to that one as the golden goggles were always expensive.

"I might as well try that one," thought Mecha. "So help me God, find that plucking goggles."

As he entered the shop, he noticed that the shelves were filled with cheap products; mostly for party equipment like birthday cards, balloons, party medals/trophies, party wigs and ribbons. The shop was decorated for the holiday. It took exactly 45 minutes for Mecha to search through the shelves. When he was about to give up, he caught something flashy nearby.

What he saw made his beak LITERALLY dropped; on one of the shelves laid a pair of goggles, covered by metallic gold. It shone so bright that it seemed like it came from the sun.

"Oh mon dieu…" he said. "This must be my lucky day."

Smirking, he walked up to the shiny goggles and put his hand on it…only for ANOTHER hand to grab the goggles.

Mecha looked up to see who it was…it was Tom. And judging by his face, Tom must be shocked to see Mecha.

Thinking quickly, the bird grabbed the goggles of the shelf.

"HEY!" exclaimed Tom. "Give that back! You have no authorization to steal those goggles."

Mecha was taken aback. "Stealing? I wasn't stealing. I just came here to buy those goggles for my brother."

"I saw it first."

"I saw it first AND got it first. Besides, what are YOU doing here?"

Tom was silent hearing this.

"Oh," said Mecha deadpanned. "You came here to get the golden goggles as well, huh? I'm sorry. These are for my younger brother and you have to wait until they got more stock."

Tom's eyes narrowed. "First you beaten my team in the tournaments for the past few years, second you choose to bully me and my teammates, and NOW you just wanted to steal something I WANT."

"No," said Mecha with an annoyed look.

Tom calmed down a bit. "Well, I call that we are even if you give me those goggles."

"Sorry," said Mecha cheerfully. "I got it first."

"Then I have to take it by force…" snarled Tom, cracking his fists.

Mecha's eyes widened hearing this. Unlike last time, he was in BIG trouble and in front of an angry cat. And he never felt THIS afraid before.

Thinking quickly, he yelled out this; "LOOK! THERE'S THE PHANTOM RUBY!"

"What?!" said Tom, looking behind.

Before Tom could say anything else, Mehca quickly kicked him in the head. The black cat fell on the ground and groaned painfully, not getting up.

Mecha watched at the seemingly-unconscious cat in fear. He shuddered. He didn't mean to do this to him.

"I'm sorry, buddy," said Mecha, quickly getting over his fear. "You have to get them next time."

At this, he ran off. A now-ticked-off Tom looked up and growled.

He ain't going to escape that easy.

* * *

If anyone is wondering if Clay has a sanity bar…then there is one.

He LOST it.

"How about this pair?" said Sebastian, giving Clay one pair of shoes.

"We tried the same shoes for the past **21 MINUTES ALREADY, SEBASTIAN!**" barked Clay, while Belt was trying to find a comfortable pair of shoes.

"C'mon! The LMG shoes comes in 30 colors and you need to try them to see if they look great on you."

"Ugh…" grumbled Clay, putting his original shoes on. "Hate to blow your bubble, but I have enough shopping today. I'm taking a breather."

He went outside of the shop while Belt and Sebastian went to the counter to pay for the products. The turquoise wolf got a big surprise when he departed, he bumped into someone.

"Oh!" he said. "Sorry about that. I wasn't…"

He trailed off when he saw who it was.

"Oh…hi Clay," said Cassie awkwardly.

"Um…hi there…Cassie…" said Clay, blushing and his tail started to wag.

"What are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same. Just came here to shop for a while, but I have enough. What about you?"

"Well…" said Cassie bashfully. "I came looking for you and I got you a gift!"

She revealed something that she was holding behind her. Clay couldn't believe what he saw.

"Is that a…?" he sputtered.

"Yep," said Cassie. "It's a Variable Wispon."

Clay gaped in awe at the Wispon. It was in a shape of an umbrella and near the end of it was a large rounded turquoise, black and white piece which had an open segment for the Wisp Capsule. Unlike an original Wispon, this one is capable of using different Wisp powers.

"Oh…my…gosh…" said Clay as Cassie put the newly-designed weapon onto his hands. "This is for…me?"

"Well," said Cassie, scratching her head. "You're going to be the leader of Black Squad, right?"

"Correction. I'm ONE of the leaders alongside my brother, Bubblegum and Mecha."

"Oh. Anyway, you got a whole world to explore and I think you need a special upgrade. You know…you always get into these huge battles and you might need more than one power-up to win."

Clay looked at the Wispon before looking back at Cassie. Happy, he hugged her.

"Thank you so much for this, Cass," said Clay. "It's nice to get a gift from you. Oh! Now I remember. I got a gift for you as well."

Clay pulled out a box and presented it to Cassie. The yellow wolf looked at it – a bit confused – before opening it. In the box was a pair of black futuristic gloves.

"What are those?" asked Cassie, picking the gloves up.

"These are electrical-charged gloves," said Clay. "Mecha made those and decided to give them to me. According to him, whoever wear those gloves would be able to make forms of electricity or lightning by using their hands under their will. They don't electrocute the wearer."

While Clay talked, Cassie put on the gloves. They fit perfectly like mittens. She concentrated a bit and to her surprise, bright electricity lines flew from the gloves. It's as if she got electric powers.

"Whoa!" she said as she stared at the glitching lights. "This IS pretty cool. But you know that I'm not much of a fighter."

Clay shrugged. "It's all I have for you. It could be useful."

Cassie blushed. "I have to admit it's a good gift. Thank you anyway."

She looked up. Clay looked up to see something above them. It's a group of three berries glued together with leaves sticking from each berry. It was hanging on the ceiling by a ribbon bow.

"Is that a mistletoe?" said Clay.

At this, Cassie grabbed his muzzle and kissed him on the lips. Clay felt as if there was a big explosive inside his chest and his lips tasted sweet cherry. Adrenaline started to run through his veins.

"Oh…my…cod…" thought Clay as he carried on with the kiss.

Finally, they broke apart. The two wolves both had the same rosy cheeks, blushing in gratefulness and embarrassment.

"Merry Christmas!" said Cassie.

Clay was slightly trembling. It was pretty exciting for him to kiss his 'girlfriend' (as he didn't REALLY feel like he and Cassie were OFFICIALLY a couple yet) and at the same time, it was shocking.

"Woof…please don't tell this to anyone," laughed Clay.

At this, the two looked at the opposite direction…to see Xander standing there.

With a bag of chips.

Munching some in his mouth.

In an instant, both Clay's and Cassie's faces turned a redder hint of their fur. Did he saw the whole scene the ENTIRE TIME?

"How long have you been standing there?" said Clay.

"An hour," said Xander flatly.

"An hour?"

"Are you serious?" said Cassie.

"I've mastered the ability of standing so still that I become invisible to the eye," said Xander sarcastically. **[1]**

Suddenly, screaming can be heard.

"What was that?" said Cassie.

"YOU WILL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!" screeched Mecha as he zoomed past them. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH…"

"YOU COME BACK HERE YOU SLIMY, PLATYPUS-BEAK DINOSAUR!" roared Tom as he chased after the screaming bird.

Oh right. It had been at least thirty minutes now and Tom was chasing Mecha as the bird held onto the golden goggles. At one part, they started to run around a Christmas tree at a fast speed. From the distance, it looked as if there was a fast train going at the speed of light around the decorated tree.

Finally, Mecha found a hiding spot. He quickly hid behind some presents which were used as decorations. Still, he wasn't out of trouble from Tom yet.

"YOU CAN'T HIDE AND YOU CAN'T RUN!" threatened Tom.

"Crud," thought Mecha. "How am I gonna get rid of him?"

He looked down to see something…useful.

As Tom stomped through the hall, he found Mecha poking his head out from his hiding spot.

"CATCHA, BIRD!" yelled Tom.

Mecha had a look of cold determination. He then pulled out a GUN.

"DIE!" he yelled.

Seeing it, Tom screamed in fear. And Mecha pressed the trigger.

POP!

That wasn't the sound of a bullet being fired. That was the sound a flag popping out of the gun saying 'SURPRISE!'. Tom opened his eyes, wondering why he wasn't shot in the stomach.

Turned out, Mecha used a PRANK gun. Not a REAL gun.

Couldn't ignore the fact that Tom screamed like a little girl, Mecha started to burst into laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" he laughed hysterically. "That was SO priceless! You should have seen the look on your FACE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Tom just stared at the laughing bird dumbfounded…before letting out a growl. Mecha was laughing so hard, it looked like he was having a stroke. His eyes were closed that he didn't see this;

Tom angrily threw a football at Mecha which hit the bird in the head.

CLONK!

"Ow!" he yelled as he fell on the ground.

At this, the golden goggles came out from his pants pocket. Happily, Tom went up to it and took it off the floor. A smile came onto his face…until Mecha quickly revived and grabbed the goggles.

Once again, the two looked at each other. They exchanged glares before…naturally fought over the golden prize. This lead to a petty tug-of-war. They were trying to take the golden goggles until Mecha won the battle, but pulled it too hard causing the goggles to fly in the air…and landed into an open sewer hole.

PLOP!

You could hear the goggles falling hard and into the dirty water. Rest in peace, golden goggles.

"NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" both Mecha and Tom screamed.

Triggered, Tom pulled out a Lightning Wispon and pointed it at Mecha.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" said Mecha, putting his hands up. "Easy now."

"I'M GOING TO PLUCK YOUR FEATHERS!" threatened Tom. "I'M GOING TO PULL A STUPID CRAP OUT OF YOUR BIG FAT-"

"Hey," said a voice.

Mecha and Tom looked at the front to see a security guard frowning at them.

"Um…how are you doing?" said Mecha sheepishly.

Making no response, the security guard grabbed Mecha on his hair feathers and Tom by his tail and dragged them to the exit.

"Ow!" complained Mecha. "Don't pluck my feathers!"

"Fine!" grumbled Tom. "Whatever. Who needs some stupid goggles covered in metallic paint?!"

* * *

A few hours later, Clay and Belt headed over to the Stones' house where Bubblegum, Emerald and Wolfgang were already there. The two wolves were also followed by Cassie, Xander and Sebastian as they were also attending the party as well.

There, they were greeted by Emerald's parents; Mr and Mrs Stone. Both of them looked EXACTLY the same as their daughter except that Mr Stone wore a fancy tuxedo, white gloves, black trousers and black shoes, and Mrs Stone wore a sunny shirt, black shorts and blue shoes.

"Why hello there, my little babies!" said Mrs Stone gleefully at the first batch of guests showed up.

"You know that we're teens…" said Xander blankly.

"Come on in! Please take your seats at the table. It's all set out and ready!"

Even though the Stones weren't as rich as Mecha, they always made sure that the house looked fancy. They have a long large table made from walnut in the huge dining room. There were many dishes of food from mince pies, trifles, Brussel sprouts (OK, that wouldn't be what people would like to eat, but it was a fair good dish), pudding, roast potatoes, eggnog, fruit cake…anything you could say what's served for dinner. There was even a large turkey in the middle with stuffing.

"Mecha would FLIP out when he sees the turkey," whispered Belt in Clay's ear, causing the latter to laugh.

"Oh. I cannot wait to eat this! Can we dig in?" said Emerald as she stared at the food, her eyes sparkling like an anime character.

"Not yet," said Wolfgang. "We should wait until the rest come."

At this, the doorbell rang. Cheerfully, Emerald offered to greet the guest and when she opened the door, she was met with the grumpy Tom.

"Why the long face?" joked Emerald.

"I don't want to talk about it," sulked Tom as he made his way inside.

The next two were Mecha and Nicki.

"Hi there, you two!" said Emerald.

"Hola senorita," said Mecha, kissing Emerald on her hand.

('Hola senorita' means 'Hello lady' in Spanish)

Emerald laughed at this. "What a gentleman! I'm just wondering; I know you have a huge family, but why do you decide to celebrate Christmas with us for tonight?"

"Ha, ha, ha," said Mecha as he and his sister entered the house. "I don't really like to be around with my mum…you know how cruel…she can be. Besides, she doesn't celebrate Christmas that much as she is busy and the rest of my brothers and sisters are probably spending the night at an arcade."

"I decided to come along with him so that I can celebrate with my one and only brother," said Nicki, placing her hand over Mecha's shoulder. "I want to spend some time with my friends."

"Alright," said Mr Stone. "Bless us and amen. You may eat."

"Hooray!" whooped Emerald.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang again. This time, the door opened itself.

"N'oublies-tu pas quelqu'un?" said a French-accent voice.

('N'oublies-tu pas quelqu'un' means 'Aren't you forgetting somebody' in French)

They all turned around to see Ryan and Ian standing at the door.

"Bonjuor, you magnificent bastards," said Ian.

"Oh God," groaned Belt, a twinge of annoyance in his voice. "Who invited these ding-dongs here?"

"That was my fault," said Mecha sheepishly. "They kept on texting me and I accidentally mentioned the party here."

"Care if we join in?" asked Ryan.

"Can't say 'no' to that," said Wolfgang.

The two bird twins cheered and fist-bumped each other. Belt growled under his breath.

The party was already in full swing; all of them took some food from the table and got into conversations with each other. Clay and Belt were opening party poppers. Bubblegum, Emerald and Sebastian were talking to each other. Mecha was showing off some tricks by juggling some Christmas balls in front of Nicki. Wolfgang was having a chat with Cassie, Xander and the Stones about his big adventure, while Ryan and Ian expressed their ideas to Tom about the Black Squad.

"What?" said Sebastian to Bubblegum. "So…you're not going to be around here for long?"

"Yeah," said Bubblegum, a bit sad. "I know."

"We can come with you if you want."

"That's nice of you. So…I am going to help out with the Resistance."

"But haven't you done your project?"

"It's going well and there are a few hiccups. I just felt that…it's not enough to help the people…around the world."

"Then who is going to lead the police force here? Who will continue your work?"

"I'm handing the position to my father. We both made a deal to share the same role. I will let him take over the role of the police chief when I'm not around…once he adapts back being here in this town. He still has some issues."

"He looks fine."

"Maybe so, but…he is still a bit wary. Give him time or two."

"We are going to miss you, Bubblegum."

"I know…but every year, I'm just going to help out the Resistance for approximately 6 months, so I will come back here to hang out with everyone."

Sebastian smiled. "Alright then. While you are away, we will take care of the town."

Bubblegum blushed in gratefulness. "Do that for me."

"Besides, you want to go on more dates with Richard, right?"

Bubblegum hesitated. "M-maybe…?"

"C'mon. You two became a couple during the war. It is about time you go see him so that you can all go in a lonely-AAAAAAAARRRGGGHHH!" said Sebastian and all of a sudden, he screamed.

Bubblegum looked at where Sebastian was looking at…which nearly caused her to have a stroke. There, Emerald was in the kitchen; all PUFFED UP AND LOOKED LIKE A GIGANTIC BEACHBALL. Her body nearly covered the whole room. Beside her were a few discs of peppermint.

"Not AGAIN," said Sebastian as he stared at the plumped Emerald.

"How many peppermint did you swallowed?!" exclaimed Bubblegum.

"Uh…I don't know," said Emerald dumbly. "How many peppermints do we have again?"

Bubblegum sighed and walked towards Emerald. "You big galoot. Hold still."

"OH WAIT, NONONONONO!" screamed Sebastian, realizing what the pink cat was going to do.

But it was too late.

From the distance, you could see a shower of saliva-covered peppermint flying from the kitchen and so did Sebastian's body due to being rapidly shot at. He banged his head on the wall of the opposite side of the room. Just behind Clay and Belt. However, the two were too busy opening their first party poppers.

"Yah!" Clay exclaimed as he and Belt pulled the tips of the popper, causing it to burst into streams of ribbons.

"Huh?" said Belt, looking down to see two slips of paper that came out of the popper. "Are those the fortunes?"

"Guess so," said Clay, picking one of the slips up. He read it. "'Trust in your friends and trust in your enemies, you will know how much a team you can be. Be patient and always calm down, or else everything you know will go down'."

"Interesting," said Belt.

"Um…" said Clay. "The part 'trust in your enemies' makes me slightly confused. I…I don't have any enemies at the moment nor I want to be enemies with anyone. Do you…think that will happen later in the future?"

Belt shrugged. "How would I know?"

He then bent down and grabbed the other paper slip. "'You will find love and be dispersed, even though who you loved will not love you at first'…what?"

"Say," said Clay smiling. "It must mean you WILL find a partner soon!"

"What?!" said Belt, his fur started to turn red in embarrassment. "I'm not sure about that."

"I think it's true. I already have a 'girlfriend'…or at least someone I like, but you don't have a lover yet. Maybe you could find one."

"I know," said Belt. "You and Cassie are trying to become a good couple and Bubblegum already have a boyfriend. But for me, I always know the people here ever since our parents passed away until now. I know every wolf here, every canine, male or female, but I don't feel any attraction from anyone. Not even at least a girl. Sure I can get a bit flustered, but I don't think they would be the potential girlfriend for me."

"If there's no one you love here in Forest Tournament Town, perhaps there is someone out there you may fall in love with."

Belt laughed dryly. "Thanks, but no thanks. I don't think I'll be able to go on a date with someone. Besides, I'm not a handsome-looking wolf. I wear glasses and I don't think many girls would fall for a bespectacled man. I'll keep that fortune in touch though."

"OK then."

All of a sudden, the two noticed Wolfgang waving something above them. He had a cheeky smile on his face. It was a MISTLETOE.

"WHAT?!" both Clay and Belt said in disgust.

Wolfgang laughed. "I s-"

"Say the word 'ship' and I'll throw you down the chimney," said Belt, trying his best to look threatening.

Eventually, the three laughed.

"Hey Wolfgang," said Belt.

"Yes?" said the lavender cat.

"For some reason, I feel like you're my father."

Wolfgang was surprised by this. "Oh really?"

"Well it's true," said Belt. "Ever since our parents passed away, I'm starting to look up to you. You're a pretty good friend to us and a good uncle as well."

"Funny thing that I felt the same, brother," said Clay.

Hearing this, Wolfgang felt his heart warmed up. Out of joy, he hugged the two brothers.

"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you two crazy pups!" he said heartily. "Thank you for this."

"You're welcome," both Clay and Belt said gratefully.

"Oh!" called Emerald's voice. "I got something I made before you guys came."

The two wolf brother turned around to see Emerald holding a cake. It had turquoise icing with white frosting decorations on the sides and top.

Also, it has a statue.

Of Clay.

Made from LITERAL clay.

And oh, the pants were pulled down along with the underpants.

To make it worse, there was a leaf candy covering what's supposed to be his 'private part'.

"I call it 'Pants-Down Clay'!" said Emerald. **[2]**

"ARE YOU SERIOUS, YOU IDIOT?!" exclaimed Bubblegum.

Even worse, Emerald showed this 'beautiful' clay sculpture of hers in front of the REAL Clay. The turquoise wolf grabbed Emerald by the throat.

"**Drop. That. Cake,**" growled Clay.

Nervously, Emerald nodded and dropped it causing the sculpture to shatter into many pieces.

"Good riddance I say," grumbled Clay.

"Hey, everyone!" called Mrs Stone. "We got something for everyone!"

She appeared pulling something into the room; a large red bag filled with boxes wrapped in reds and greens, and tied by ribbons.

"Presents?" said Tom slightly confused.

"You know that we're a bit grown up already…" said Mecha, chuckling slightly.

"Well you guys are still young!" said Mrs Stone as Bubblegum quickly took one of the presents out from the bag. "Best to have them now than when old."

"Clay, Belt," said Bubblegum, coming towards the two wolves. "I got something for you two."

She presented a long and flat rectangular box to them. Clay took it and opened it.

"Oh my gosh!" he and Belt said.

"Recognized the picture?" said Bubblegum.

The two wolves nodded. It was them with her, Mecha, Sebastian and Emerald together.

"That's the photo who took after we got home from the Infinite War!" said Clay.

"Yeah," said Bubblegum. "I would have given you two a video game, but I wanted to give something you want to remember."

Having great streams of tears, both Clay and Belt hugged Bubblegum, surprising the latter.

"Thank you," stuttered Clay. "This is…*sniff*…the greatest present we ever have."

"We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you and everyone else!" said Belt.

Bubblegum grinned. She also felt tears coming from her eyes. "Your welcome, you dummies."

"OK! THEY OPENED IT!" exclaimed Emerald, unable to control her excitement. "CAN WE OPEN OUR PRESENTS NOW, PLEEEEAAASE?!"

At this, she sped towards the bag of presents sending Mrs Stone flying. This resulted into everyone opening their gifts.

"Oh right," said Nicki, grateful upon getting a DS.

"Oh hell yeah!" said Sebastian getting a trendy pair of new shoes.

"Darn it!" cursed Tom upon getting a chunk of coal.

"WHOOOOO!" whooped Emerald receiving a 200 Cola can.

Mecha opened his present…and immediately shut the box.

"What is it?" asked Clay.

"I rather not say what that THING is," said Mecha with widened eyes.

"Let me see," said Belt, taking the box and looking into it…and immediately regretted doing it.

"HOLY CRAP!" Belt said quickly closing it, his face turning a bright pink colour. "Who put THAT in there?"

Clay looked at Emerald who gave him a wink before drinking her can.

"We would never know," said Clay shrugging.

Meanwhile, Wolfgang watched on in the background. He felt at ease. After a long time of being alone, he finally get to celebrate Christmas back home. Even with his daughter. He missed his wife, but knew that she would be alright.

He spotted Bubblegum standing on the side and quickly came up to her.

"Hey sweetie," said Wolfgang.

"Yes, Dad?" asked Bubblegum.

"I got something for you."

Wolfgang pulled out something; it was a short purple/black flannel skirt with a black leather belt connected to it

"Sorry," said Wolfgang. "I didn't have time to wrap it."

Bubblegum gasped seeing it. "Oh…my…that's the skirt…I wanted it for my 10th birthday, but you disappeared and I…"

"It's OK. At least I have it here for you," said Wolfgang giving her the skirt.

She put it on and tried it out. "I haven't worn skirts for a long time now. Thank you for this. Oh. I have a present I wanted to give to you. May I bring it to you?"

"That's nice," said Wolfgang, placing his hand onto his daughter's shoulder. "But the greatest gift I've ever have is standing in front of me now."

Seeing what he meant, Bubblegum joyfully wrapped her arms around Wolfgang. The latter did the same.

"I…I love you so much…I'm happy that I get to spend Christmas with you after all these years without you…" croaked Bubblegum through tears of joy.

Even Wolfgang had some. "Me too…I know. Merry Christmas…my dear Bethlehem."

* * *

**?**

The silence filled the air in one of the abandoned labs in Final Egg Fortress. The only sounds made were the bubbling noises of the test chambers; all large and shaped like test tubes. They were all filled with water. All of them were empty…well almost.

In one of them was an organism in the shape of an anthropomorphic male canine.

On the chest was a ruby…

…

…

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

…or at least there was ONCE a ruby. There was a large white triangular scar on his chest.

From the outside, you couldn't tell if he was awake or not. All of a sudden, he started to stir. From underneath the mask, he opened his eyes to find that he was in a large human-sized test tubes. He realized that he was in water and attached to some wires hanging from the top of the tube.

One question came to his mind.

"What happened?"

* * *

**AN: Looks who back! Anyone who guess that mysterious creature right will have their own character featured in one of my upcoming stories.**

**[1] A reference to Avengers: Infinite War! And of course, the right guy to play as Drax is Xander.**

**[2] OK. This idea came from the Splatoon manga when Goggles made this dish called 'Pants-Down Rider'. **

**I hope you all enjoyed this special Christmas story! So far, this story reached about...eh...498 views...and there are STILL about 3 reviews. Whatever, I thank you all for reading this story. **

**Special thanks to Infinite's Ruby, The Sensational SpiderDom321, Zoggerific, teharrisonfox and any other guest replies for leaving a follow, review or favoring this story. It means a lot to me.**

**However, the story doesn't end there. Forces United 3 is on the way and I swear that it's going to be better than this along with the rewrite of Dark Wolf Begins. Make sure to keep an eye on those two upcoming story for the Forces United series. Right now, I'm still working hard on Bendy - The Catastrophe. Check it out! Also, I'm planning to write Inkcredible 2 for 2020. Hopefully, I will be able to write it.**

**If you like this story: follow or favorite this story for updates of the story. Make sure to review this chapter on what you thought of this story. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).**

**The question for this chapter: What do you want to see next for the next Forces United story? (Again, I already used this question, but I want to hear your opinions.**

**Until next time, be nice, don't take your anger on others, tell others about your problems, may God be with you and look before you leap. **

**Keep on rocking,**

**TurquoiseTriangle...out...**


End file.
